Boomers Missing Go-Go Years of Retirement

It looks like a lot of boomers will miss out on the go-go years of retirement. That's because of a stunning increase in the labor force participation rate of men and women in their sixties, according to new labor force projections by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• The labor force participation rate of men aged 62 to 64 will climb to 60 percent by 2024, up from just 45 percent in 1994. Work is now the norm for men in the age group. For their fathers who retired in the 1990s, retirement was the norm. 
• The labor force participation rate of women aged 62 to 64 will reach 47 percent by 2024, up from 33 percent a generation ago in 1994. 
• The labor force participation rate of men aged 65 to 69 will climb to 40 percent by 2024, up from 27 percent in 1994. 
• The labor force participation rate of women aged 65 to 69 will climb to 33 percent by 2024, up from 18 percent a generation ago. 

Because of the growing labor force participation of older boomers, the go-go retirement market (aged 55 to 74) will be 18 percent smaller in 2024 than it would have been if boomers were retiring at the rate their parents did in 1994. The number of retirees aged 55 to 64 is projected to shrink 3 percent during the decade ahead. While the number of retirees aged 65 to 74 will increase, the gain will be less than in the 2004-14 decade. Industries that depend on go-go retirees—casinos, travel, RVs, golfing communities—may want to rethink their strategy as growth in the active retirement market will be much more modest than once anticipated.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, Labor Force Projections to 2024: The Labor Force is Growing, but Slowly