How many Americans over 65 work?

In 2022, 19.2% of Americans over 65 participated in the labor force, according to the Current Population Survey from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By October 2023, that ticked up to 19.3%.

How has labor force participation for older Americans changed?

The labor force participation rate for Americans 65 and older decreased by 7.8 percentage points from 27% to 19.2% between 1948 and 2022. While the participation rate was lower in 2022, there were more people in the labor force in this age cohort in 2022 (10.9 million people) compared to 1948 (2.9 million people) due in part to population growth.

During that period, labor force participation increased by 13.8 percentage points for Americans aged 65 to 69, 8.2 percentage points for people from 70 to 74, and 4 percentage points for folks 75 and older.