With Social Security and PERS under review, Baby Boomers are working longer before retiring

• Columnist Sid Salter says there will inevitably come a day when Boomer workers begin to retire, and the impact will be significant.

Baby Boomers, the generation born between 1946 to 1964, are in the season of their lives when their retirement needs will increase and become more pervasive and persistent worries.

Baby Boomers are the children of television, optimistic and industrious but prone to divorce and a distrust of government marked by the Vietnam War and Watergate. Boomers range in age from 61 to 79, so retirement and the fiscal outlook for Social Security and in Mississippi, the Public Employees Retirement System, are top of mind.

The Social Security Program was established 90 years ago as a safety net for the aged, disabled individuals, the blind and children. The program faces a looming shortfall in 2033 in which it may only be able to pay 77% of scheduled retirement benefits. If combined with the trust fund for disability benefits, in 2034 the program could then pay 81% of benefits.

Congress and the White House are both aware of the ticking political time bomb that is the projected shortfall, but agreement on a plan to somehow “fix” the program remains elusive and expensive.

At the same time, PERS, the largest public pension system in Mississippi, also remains under review by the Mississippi House of Representatives’ Select Committee on PERS as they evaluate ways that Mississippi can stabilize a system is more than $25 billion in debt and currently has about 56% of the funds necessary to meet the pension’s long-term obligations.

Reason Foundation policy analyst Steven Gassenberger advised the legislators that it would take $110 million over the next four years to make the system solvent. With both houses working toward stabilizing the pension system, the Mississippi House and Senate are seriously divided over the means to achieve PERS reforms.

Given those federal and state government realities, is it any wonder that aging Baby Boomers are working longer and putting off retirement until well past age 65? The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projected in 2017 that the two fastest-growing age groups in the nation’s workforce would be the age groups of 65 to 74 and of 75-plus.

As cited last week in U.S. News & World Report, the data is now in, and it shows that one-in-five U.S. workers are age 65 and older: “Since 1985, a growing share of those age 65 and older have chosen to participate in the labor force, because of personal preference or economic necessity. In 2024, 19.5 percent of people age 65 and older participated in the labor force (23.4 percent of men and 16.2 percent of women),” according to a May blog post from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Beyond the concerns of Boomers about outliving their retirement funds, or fears of political gridlock blocking solutions to Social Security or other pension reforms, or simply because many of them genuinely enjoy their work, there will inevitably come a day when those older Boomer workers begin to retire.

The impact of what some are calling “Peak 65” as millions of Baby Boomers begin to exit the job market – currently representing 12% of the American workforce – will be significant. Forbes writer Jack Kelly in 2024 observed: “The retirement of experienced Baby Boomers will create a talent gap and brain drain in the U.S. labor market, as their in-depth, 30-plus years of industry knowledge will go out the door with them.”

Analysts are concerned that with the curtain beginning to fall on the Boomer workforce, declining birth rates may well dictate a shrinking U.S. workforce that will threaten the global competitiveness of the U.S. in the world economy.

At the same time (listen up, Millennials!), life expectancy for U.S. men is now 75.8 years and for U.S. women is 81.1 years, for a combined 78.4 years. That translates into continued pressures on public healthcare and eldercare.

It’s a fact that Baby Boomers are slowing their rolls in terms of retirement. Assessing why they’re following that course is subjective at best. It could be a conscious decision to operate under their own steam for as long as possible – as the late, great Toby Keith sang: “Don’t Let the Old Man In.”

Yet it’s telling that job demand in 2025 is highest for nurses and nurse practitioners, physical therapists, and tech specialists with software development, AI and cybersecurity skills.