The doomer media loves this: Why retirement may be harder to reach for many older Americans in 2026

Surveys released in recent months suggest that older Americans are more worried about having to unretire, fearing their savings won’t last them 20 to 30 years. US Bank’s 2025 Wealth Report, released in September, shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans worry they may have to reenter the workforce, while 58% of people believe their money will last them in their retirement years.

Buried deep in the article is the sentence that refutes the narrative – so the author adds another negative spin to it!

To be sure, the unretirement rate from pre-COVID through mid-2024 has steadily declined from 3.2% in late 2018 to 1.9%, which suggests older workers are struggling to rejoin the labor market.

This article is doomerism on steroids. The US is the worst country in the world, and the economy today is clearly worse than The Great Depression. Obviously.

Other economic studies (linked in the right column of this blog) indicate that almost all retirees say they are “living comfortably” and other studies find that many retirees have over saved for retirement.

Reality Check

Un‑retirement is real, measurable, and surprisingly stable when looked at in historical context.

📊 How Many Retirees “Un‑Retire”?

⭐ Best-supported estimate: 10–25% of retirees eventually return to work

A major Bureau of Labor Statistics working paper finds that between 15% and 25% of older career workers eventually reenter the labor force after retiring U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Other definitions produce a slightly lower range (10–20%), but the conclusion is the same: a sizable minority of retirees un-retire.

This rate has been remarkably stable across cohorts from the early 1990s through the 2010s U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

1. Un‑retirement rates have stayed stable

The BLS study covering 1992–2016 found no major increase or decrease in the prevalence of un‑retirement across cohorts U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Un-retirement did increase after the Covid fiasco but has declined each year since.

2. Labor force participation of older adults has risen

This doesn’t directly measure un‑retirement, but it shows more older adults are working:

• People 65+ employed in 2023: ~20% (double the rate 35 years earlier) Pew Research Center
• People 55+ employed in 2024: 37.3% Kiplinger

This reflects:

• Longer lifespans
• Higher education levels
• Financial pressures (inflation, market volatility)
• Desire for purpose or social engagement

3. Economic shocks temporarily increase un‑retirement

During:

• The Great Recession, some retirees returned to work.
• The post‑COVID inflation period, un‑retirement ticked up (though still within the historical range).

• Roughly 3 million Americans retire each year (varies by economy and demographics).
• If 15–25% eventually un‑retire, that implies:

👉 ~450,000 to 750,000 un‑retirements per cohort of retirees

Estimated total U.S. retirements per year (all workers)

There is no official annual count of all retirements, but we can estimate using:

• Social Security new retired-worker beneficiaries
• CPS labor‑force exit data
• Demographic aging of the Baby Boom cohort

⭐ Best estimate: 2.8–3.5 million Americans retire each year (2000–2025)

Here’s how the trend looks:

Estimated U.S. retirements per year

(rounded, based on SSA beneficiary data and labor‑force exits)

2000–2009

• Roughly 2.2–2.5 million per year
• Boomers had not yet begun retiring in large numbers

2010–2019

• Boomers begin retiring en masse
• Roughly 2.8–3.2 million retirements per year
• Peak years around 2012–2014 and 2017–2019

2020–2024

• Pandemic accelerated retirements
• Roughly 3.2–3.6 million per year
• “Excess retirements” estimated at 1.5–2.0 million cumulative over 2020–2022 (Covid period)

2025 (estimate)

• Roughly 3.4–3.6 million
• Driven by late‑boomer cohort (born 1959–1964)

We infer retirements from:

• Social Security claiming (but many claim early or late)
• Labor‑force exit surveys
• Demographic aging patterns

This is why OPM data is exact, but national data is modeled.

🟦 Summary

Total U.S. retirements (estimated):

• 2000–2009: ~2.2–2.5 million/year
• 2010–2019: ~2.8–3.2 million/year
• 2020–2024: ~3.2–3.6 million/year
• 2025: ~3.4–3.6 million/year (projected)