The Labor Department reported an unemployment rate of 3.6 percent in May, the lowest figure in years. According to a nationwide job survey, millions who retired a year earlier are returning to work due to rising inflation. Experts have called this phenomenon “The Great Unretirement.”
“I had worked it [retirement] all out. I could afford it,” Pattie told CBS News. “Inflation happened. It [inflated prices] just got overwhelmed me.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the consumer price index is 8.6 percent, the highest mark since 1981.
Rising food and fuel costs have retirees second-guessing how they will pay for much-needed healthcare.
“What’s going to happen when I get older,” Laura Rodriguez asked NBC News. “How am I going to pay for the care that I need?”
According to AARP, younger retirees who do not qualify for Medicare are jumping back into the labor force to keep insurance coverage.
Then there are retirees whose 401k accounts were once sitting high when the markets rallied during the pandemic and have since seen those gains decline, forcing them to rethink how they will spend their golden years.
According to the job search website Indeed, 3.2 percent of workers who retired a year earlier are now employed. Analysts say roughly 3 percent of retirees did the same from 2017-2019.
For some retirees, the prospect of returning to work is not all doom and gloom. Experts say it keeps the young at heart involved in the community. The new work-from-home climate also gives them more flexibility.
