Old age, new work patterns.
The number of workers postponing retirement has boomed across the Western world due to increased life expectancy and economic uncertainty.
British businessman Derek Price, 94, still clocks seven days a week at his company, saying full-time work keeps him spry six years out from his centenary birthday.
“I live, eat and sleep the business,” the nonagenarian told The Telegraph. “I’m addicted to it.”
Price is the chairman of his own company, Price of Bath, which manufactures tennis racquets and squash balls.
The industrious Englishman says he no longer collects a paycheck from his business, proclaiming that he now works for fun and not for financial need.
“I enjoy the challenges of solving problems,” he declared. “Some people do crosswords – I like the chemistry of making all kinds of rubber balls and the engineering challenges that brings.”
While almost all people in their nineties no longer work, it’s a different story for those in their sixties and seventies — particularly in America.
A 2023 study conducted by Pew Research Center found that almost one in five Americans (19%) aged 65 and older is employed. In 1987, only 11% of Americans in that age category were still working.
For many, money is the motivator.
The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies recently found that nearly 80% of older workers said they are still working “because they need the paycheck or because they want to keep building their retirement savings.”
Meanwhile, a survey from insurance company Allianz Life found 64% of Americans worry more about running out of money than they do about dying.
The number of individuals over 75 who are either working or actively looking for work is set to grow a staggering 96.5% by 2030, according to the American Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In other Western countries, the number of citizens still working aged 65 and older is growing at slower rates — possibly due to heftier pension and retirement plans.
In the UK, for instance, only 11.5% of Brits aged 65 and over are currently working, while in Australia the figure stands at 15%.
Meanwhile, older Americans are more likely to be working full-time than part-time — another indicator of financial insecurity.
Of those in the US who are still working past the age of 65, 62% are employed full-time, per Pew.
Compare that with the UK, where just 34% of older Brits who work do so on a full-time basis.
