Number of the Day
The Pandemic is Pushing Millions More Boomers Into Retirement
A rash of early retirements could be bad for the economy
3.2 million: That’s how many more baby boomers retired in the third quarter of 2020 than during the same period last year, according to Pew Research. This uptick is one side effect of the Covid-19 recession, which, as the Wall Street Journal recently explored, has shrunk the labor force in general since February as swaths of workers have chosen to leave the market altogether.
It’s probably too soon to conclude that this broader workforce decline is permanent across the board; some workers may return to the labor market as the economy recovers. But Pew’s data points to the higher-than-normal number of boomers (defined as individuals born between 1946 and 1964) who say they’re leaving the work world for good. According to the Journal, participation in the labor force among workers 55 or older declined from 40.3% in February to 38.7% in October.
Declining job market participation is troubling to some economists because a robust labor force is important to overall economic growth. And in particular, a rash of earlier-than-planned retirements could mean the premature loss of productive workers.
Okay, boomer — maybe don’t quit on us yet.
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