'Unretirement': How retirees end up back in the workforce

First comes retirement, then comes "unretirement."

"Unretirement" is the title of Chris Farrell's book — and his new podcast — about how people are rethinking the second half of their lives.

Farrell is a senior economics contributor for Marketplace. The "Unretirement" podcast, which launches today, features conversations with people searching for meaning and money far beyond age 65.

Farrell joined MPR News' Tom Weber to talk about the project and about Americans' attitudes toward work in their later years. The "unretirement" trend, as Farrell identifies it, involves retirees returning to the workforce within a year or two of leaving it.

They often return to "flexible time, part-time work, contract work, temp work, even starting your own business," Farrell said. "The image of retirement as being on a golf course or on the beach, that is just sort of dissipating."

He cites a combination of need and want driving the trend: Some return to supplement their Social Security income or retirement fund, and some just want to keep busy.

"We all want to be useful," Farrell said. "And a way of being useful is actually on the job."

To hear the full discussion with Chris Farrell about the factors driving "unretirement," use the audio player above. Subscribe the "Unretirement" podcast for more on the topic.