![]() ![]() They enjoy perks such as free ski passes, and they consider themselves “surrogate grandparents” to their co-workers’ kids. They work on a seasonal schedule that gives them plenty of vacation time to take advantage of last-minute flight deals. ![]() Take the Arrowoods: At the ski resort, they have no desire to move up the management ladder. But lots of jobs can be surprisingly good for you.Ĭrucially, the jobs many semi-retirees choose aren’t as demanding as the careers of their youth-or at least not in the same way. Of course, there are other ways to keep your brain and body healthy, such as volunteering or pursuing a hobby. When people lose the community and challenge their work provided, their health- both physical and cognitive-can suffer. Schlossberg, a retirement expert and professor emerita of counseling psychology at the University of Maryland at College Park, explained. “When you work, there’s a reason to get up in the morning,” Nancy K. Most jobs provide structure, socialization, and even basic physical activity. Joe Casey, who coaches people through retirement, told me that many of his clients are scared of what will come after they leave their career. But days can be long and boring without work to fill them. Examining what they get from the jobs they don’t need could illuminate what a career can offer the rest of us, helping us reimagine our relationship to work long before it’s time to retire.Īt first glance, lazing on the beach might sound more appealing than the Arrowoods’ bartending gig. After all, they represent a rarity in the labor market: the truly empowered worker. But there might be a less pessimistic way to look at those who actively choose semi-retirement. The idea of a retirement purposely filled with work might seem dismal-proof that we’ve prioritized achievement over happiness for so long that we can’t even stop in our 60s. ![]() Though some of them might appreciate the extra income, many seem to also find these jobs enjoyable and fulfilling. According to one 2014 survey, 80 percent of semi-retirees say they’re employed because they want to be working after retirement is actually more common among workers with higher socioeconomic status. But this trend doesn’t reflect only people who can’t afford to quit. Read: The problem with the retirement age is that it’s too highįor far too many, the decision to continue working is driven by financial necessity-an especially concerning reality given how few healthy years the average poor American has left by the time they reach retirement age. Others are “un-retiring” after a period away. In the past month, 13 percent of retired Americans worked for pay, which could mean a one-off gig or a dedicated part-time job. But for many, the line between employment and retirement is muddier. ![]() Some are simply postponing their exodus from work. The Arrowoods’ transition happened amid a strange economic shift in the United States: Over the past 20 years, at the same time as labor-force-participation rates have dropped for younger people, they’ve risen among older adults. We were six-figure employees, and now we’re making minimum wage,” Gayle told me. “We were desk jockeys, secretarial admin, management, and now we’re hucking ice and cases of wine. They ended up loving their co-workers and customers, so when they retired in 2017, they saw no reason to stop although their old jobs could be draining, they actually looked forward to their shifts at the bar. The married couple had started working at the ski resort on weekends years ago, after they’d decided to go to a job fair on a whim. They’d enjoyed aspects of the work, but their days had also been filled with office politicking and an itch to work for the next promotion. Because of how far away they’d lived from the lab, they had needed to wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. Their previous roles had been intense: Over multi-decade careers, Mark had worked his way up from a janitor to a manager, and Gayle had gone to night school and become a scheduler for the lab’s projects. The same day that Gayle and Mark Arrowood retired from their jobs at a Department of Energy lab, they drove to Sun Valley, Idaho, to start their next chapter: ski-resort bartending. This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday. ![]()
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