Based on pre-pandemic trends, more than 47 million workers age 55 or older were projected to be retired* as of this July. More than 49 million are actually retired.
Notes: *For each month after February 2020, the projected retired population is calculated using a corresponding projected retirement rate among people who are 55 or older. These rates are linearly estimated using actual ones from January 2015 to February 2020.
Source: Current Population Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Extracted from IPUMS-CPS, University of Minnesota.
Credit: Data analysis by Owen Davis/Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. Graphic by Duy Nguyen/NPR.
Full story: These Older Workers Hadn’t Planned to Retire So Soon