VA Sees Drop In Number Of Workers Postponing Retirement: Study

VIRGINIA — Working past retirement age has never been the American Dream. And while some residents over the age of 65 are still grinding away at jobs in many states, more Virginians are leaving the workforce, a new study says.

Population growth, changes to Social Security and a rising cost of living are forcing many Americans to postpone retirement, according to financial website LendingTree.

Researchers analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau between March 2022 and April 2024, searching for the states with the highest share of people 65 and up who are still part of the workforce. See the full study and learn about its methodology here.

Virginia landed at No. 42 on the list, researchers noted. According to the study, 23.4 percent of the state's retirement-aged residents are still in the workforce, a drop of 17.6 percent in the past two years.

In March 2022, about 28.4 percent of residents 65 and older were employed in the Commonwealth.

The top 10 states with the largest percentage of older adults in the workforce are:

1. New Jersey: 33.8%
2. Delaware: 27.2%
3. Indiana: 23.0%
4. Montana: 24.2%
5. Connecticut: 30.3%
6. Nevada: 25.7%
7. Maryland: 31.2%
8. Arkansas: 24.8%
9. North Dakota: 32.3%
10. Louisiana: 22.5%

Nationwide, 22 percent of U.S. residents 65 and older are still working. One in four (24.2 percent) are self-employed, about half (50.5 percent) are employed by private companies and 10.3 percent are employed by the government, the study said.

The share of U.S. adults who reported being retired decreased from 16.8 percent in March 2022 to 16.2 percent in March 2024. Overall, the retiree percentage declined in 30 states, led by New Jersey (23 percent), North Dakota (22.9 percent) and Connecticut (19.9 percent).

Besides population shifts, the surge in retirement-age workers in states like New Jersey is also financially driven, researchers suggested.

“These increases could be a concerning sign that more and more older Americans are finding themselves needing extra income in their so-called golden years,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree.

“Inflation could be taking a major toll on the assumptions that these people made about what they’d need to get by in retirement,” Schulz added.

Other factors – such as improved health, higher education levels and a flexible job landscape – have also kept older Americans working, researchers said.