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Chris Farrell

American retirement: Why 75 may be the new 60

Willie Nelson
Singer Willie Nelson, 81, performs at the White House" on the South Lawn November 6, 2014 in Washington, DC.
Pool/Getty Images

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More Americans are working past 75. Are they staying in the workforce for the love or the money?

Chris Farrell, economics editor at Marketplace and author of "Unretirement," wrote about the trend last month:

Although people working at age 75 and over are a distinct minority--comprising less than 1% of the total labor force--roughly 11% of American men 75 and older are still at it and 5% of women that age are. By contrast, in 1992, only about 7% of 75+ men and 3% of 75+ women worked.

Indeed, after declining sharply in the early postwar decades, the average age of retirement in America has risen over the past two decades, to 64 for men and 62 for women, calculates Alicia Munnell, head of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

While the labor force participation rate for men 75 and up is currently about double that of the rate for women, the gap is expected to shrink. Boomer and Gen X women are well educated and more attached to their jobs than previous generations.

Farrell joins The Daily Circuit along with Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research, to talk about the issue.

If you're 70 and up and still working: what are you doing and why? If you're younger, do you want to still be working into your 70s? Leave your comments below.

Learn more about American retirement trends:

• Misconceptions and Overconfidence Hurting Retirement, New Research Shows (Forbes)

• Chris Farrell on reinventing retirement (MPR News)

• 5 New Realities of Retirement (U.S. News and World Report)

• Of the Right Age, but Can't Seem to Stay Retired (New York Times)

• There Is No Retirement Crisis (Bloomberg View)