A new Issue Brief published by the Boston College Center for Retirement Research finds that the share of workers aged 55 and over who left the workforce changed sharply with the onset of the COVID pandemic.
Before the outbreak, about 15 percent of older workers would leave employment within a year. This percentage rose sharply in April 2020 to 31.5 percent (click image).
In subsequent months, a lower percentage of older people left but the percentage remained near or above 20 percent during the rest of 2020. “Overall, the share of people 55 and over who left the workforce during the pandemic increased by a statistically significant 7.6 percentage points” with women, Asian-Americans, individuals with no college degrees and those whose occupations were less amenable to remote work being impacted the most.
Despite the workforce departures, researchers noted that the pandemic had little impact on retirement and Social Security claiming, suggesting that many of these older people may return to work if COVID continues to recede. Read the full report.
How Has COVID-19 Affected Older Workers’ Labor Force Participation?
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