Reasons for Delaying Retirement Vary, but There Is No Mistaking the Trend
By N.C. Aizenman and Pamela Constable
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 14, 2007
It was 77 degrees outside. Not a cloud in the sky. Just the sort of weekday that 65-year-old Ho-Mei Chen once imagined she'd be spending in the park with her grandchildren. Or on which 68-year-old hospital administrator Marie Warren once pictured herself tending to her begonias. Or on which 68-year-old medical staff services director Joan Morton might have gone out for a lazy lunch with her two best friends.
Instead, all three women were at work inside Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, among the nearly one in three Washington area residents 65 to 74 who are postponing retirement beyond the age at which most Americans used to consider it a right.
"Sure, there are mornings when I wake up and think, 'It sure would be nice to call in sick,' " Morton said. "But I guess when I turned 65, I found that I just wasn't ready to retire. . . . Plus, I wanted to get myself in a financially more stable place. . . . It's no joke living on a fixed income."
The trend is national: From 2000 to 2006, the proportion of the nation's 65- to 74-year-olds who remained in the labor force increased from nearly one in five to one in four, according to census figures released this week.
When employees decide to postpone retirement, it can present complications to employers. Morton speaks of working past 70, but she swears she will not be like a recent retiree who stayed on at the hospital even as her faculties became diminished.
"It was awkward," Morton said. "She was very well liked. So you don't want to just say, 'It's time for you to go.' You hope they make the decision on their own."
Still, most employers welcome older workers, said Arthur Rothkopf, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"Across the country, our members have been telling us that there is a really significant shortage of skilled workers out there, and I'm talking about everything from sophisticated computer engineers to auto technicians to the people who install air conditioning," he said. "Seniors are some of the most skilled members of the workforce. So there is a real incentive for these companies to find ways to hire and keep them."
Kevin Dameron, chief engineer at a downtown Washington building, certainly appreciates the dedication of longtime security guard William L. Johnson, who is 85.
"I can set my watch by him. He's here every day at quarter to seven sharp," Dameron said. "In general, older people are more reliable, and they take their responsibilities more seriously."
Nowhere, perhaps, is that sense of responsibility more evident than in the Washington area, where many members of the region's highly educated workforce seem determined to remain professionally engaged until their last breath.
"We have a lot of Type A people in this region. They're compulsive. They don't want to get out of the loop, because if you get out of the loop in this town, you are out," said Russell E. Morgan, president of the Washington-based nonprofit SPRY Foundation, which seeks ways to keep people healthy and fulfilled as they age.
Of course, the region has plenty of highly skilled people older than 65 who direct their talents toward volunteer work. William Johnston, 80, a retired chemist for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission who lives in a Montgomery County retirement community, spends most of his time building cabinets and other wooden structures with Habitat for Humanity.
"My philosophy is to share your gifts and celebrate life," Johnston said.
Still, many high-powered local residents worry that even volunteering may not be sufficiently satisfying, said Morgan, who at 64 has more than a professional interest in the topic.
"Somehow there's a difference between how much people respect you when you're volunteering as compared to when you're actually employed," he said. "They'll ask you to do tasks that don't require you to be involved in any strategic planning or decision-making."
Or perhaps area residents are taking their cue from the U.S. Senate. Dozens of senators are older than 65, and several are older than 80.Then there's the Friday policy luncheon at the Brookings Institution, where at least eight of the movers and shakers are 65-plus.
"Doing things I believe in. Public service. That's what gives meaning to my days," said luncheon regular Amitai Etzioni, 78, director of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington University.
Even people in less high-brow professions say they continue to work at least partly for the sense of purpose it gives them.
"I've been working all my life, so why stop now? It's better than sitting around and wasting away," said Johnson, a lobby guard for the past 26 years.
The job itself is perfect for someone my age. . . . There's no stress, and everyone treats me well," said Johnson, a retired postal worker,
Those who are working past traditional retirement age at Holy Cross Hospital also described their jobs as a pleasure rather than a burden.
Morton, the medical staff services director, and Warren, who has a part-time job coordinating staff retention, routinely stay beyond official work hours because they are absorbed by their projects.
Chen, the nurse, showed obvious delight as she lathered newborn Emme Hallet's thick black curls on a recent afternoon.
"Wow, she's got a lot of hair," she exclaimed to Emme's father, Joe Hallet, as he snapped away with his camera.
But like many other people working past 65, the Holy Cross employees said financial considerations were a big factor in the decision to put off retirement.
As a widow, Chen gets only a portion of her husband's pension from his job as a civil engineer with the U.S. Navy.
Warren has survived colon cancer at 65, and lung cancer this year. She shudders to think of how much she would have had to pay if she hadn't had full health insurance from Holy Cross to supplement her Medicare coverage.
"I've had chemo, surgery, intensive care," she noted. "Medicare would definitely not have paid for all that. I would have been in deep, deep trouble."
Morton has calculated that between her Social Security check and various pensions, her income after she retires will be only about $500 a month less than her after-tax income now. But she worries that if, like her mother, she lives until 95, the pensions will run out. And she wants money for the little luxuries in life, the silver jewelry she likes to buy from QVC, for instance.
"I don't want to spend my last days pinching pennies," she said. "Otherwise, it's like your just waiting to die."
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