The graying of the American workforce continues: Baby boomers are working longer and earning more than their predecessors did in what Americans typically think of as retirement years, new research finds.

Almost 20% of Americans ages 65 and older were employed this year, according to a new report from Pew Research Center. That’s nearly double the share of those who were working 35 years ago. In total, there are around 11 million Americans 65 or older who are working today, comprising 7% of all wages and salaries paid by U.S. employers. In 1987, they made up 2%.

And not only are more Americans at or above the traditional retirement age of 65 working, but they are also earning substantially more compared with what older workers earned in the 1980s. Now, the typical older worker earns $22 per hour, compared with $13 per hour then. Their wage growth—some of which can be attributed to their working longer hours than older Americans did in the past—has outpaced that of workers ages 25 to 64 over the same time period, according to Pew’s research, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey and the Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking.

    • the_q@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      AI will only take jobs that pay well while we humans are all working in factories and McDonald’s.

      • 摆 烂@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        Robots powered by AI will be making burgers and assembling on the factory floor.

        • the_q@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          We’ve had the tech to replace these jobs with bots for years and we haven’t. But artists were replaced overnight.