Older Men in the Labor Force, 1955 and 2010

As the age of retirement increases, the labor force participation rates of older men may begin to resemble those of their grandfathers in the mid-1950s. We have a long way to go before we get there. The labor force participation rate of men aged 60 to 64 is 22.6 percentage points lower today than it was in 1955. Here are the labor force participation rates of men aged 55 or older in 1955 and 2010, and the percentage point change in the rate during those decades...

			% point
	2010	1955	change
55-59	78.5%	92.5%	-14.0
60-64	60.0%	82.6%	-22.6
65-69	36.5%	57.0%	-20.5
70-74	22.0%	37.1%	-15.1
75+	10.4%	19.4%	-9.0

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Older Workers: Increasing their Labor Force Participation and Hours of Work, Monthly Labor Review, January 2008 and Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey