As living costs soar, more retirees head back to work

Amna Nawaz:

As the cost of living continues to rise in the United States, people are finding it more and more difficult to make ends meet. And older Americans are feeling it more than most.

Geoff Bennett:

And, as Paul Solman reports, that's forcing many retirees to unretire.

Christine Drinks, Office Manager:

How are you doing?

Paul Solman:

Seventy-one-year-old Christine Drinks, the first phase folks see in a veteran support group just outside Atlanta.

Did you ever expect to be working at this age?

Christine Drinks:

No, no, no, absolutely not.

Paul Solman:

Never even thought of it.

Christine Drinks:

No, no, not at all.

Paul Solman:

Do you feel put upon that you have to work?

Christine Drinks:

Yes. Yes.

Paul Solman:

You think it's unfair?

Christine Drinks:

It is, most definitely. I mean, you work all your life, so this is what you look forward to, retirement. And you're thinking that you're going to be OK.

You had called and needed help with...

Paul Solman:

Drinks retired in Maryland a couple of years ago to come down to Georgia to care for her 96-year-old mom.

Christine Drinks:

From back in my mom's day, you were OK because they got to retire at a very early age. And they got to retire and enjoy their life. That's not like that anymore. It's just too much with the price of everything. It's very, very difficult out here for elderly people.

And it's really sad that we were put in that boat, but that's where we are.

Paul Solman:

Social Security doesn't cover the new cost of living. So I asked:

Do you have savings?

Christine Drinks:

Yes. Yes.

Paul Solman:

Are you drawing it down?

Christine Drinks:

Yes. Yes. Oh, am I.

Paul Solman:

How long before it goes away?

Christine Drinks:

I don't know. I'm trying to curtail the best I can.

(LAUGHTER)

Christine Drinks:

Trying.

Paul Solman:

For the elderly, as for most unretirees, financial insecurity is the driver, though folks also return to work for so-called good reasons, like a sense of purpose, but mainly:

Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, Boston College:

Right now, when it's hard to find a job, when you have high inflation, you're going to tend to see people unretire for the bad reasons.

Paul Solman:

Moreover, says economist Geoffrey Sanzenbacher:

Geoffrey Sanzenbacher:

People who have to unretire for economic reasons can be a lot less choosy. So they're going to come back to whatever they can find, and they're probably going to make less than they did before, and probably not because they're taking a job they like more.

Paul Solman:

Stories of older Americans working all the rage online, like 78-year-old food delivery driver Richard Pulley (ph). He came out of retirement when his wife lost her job in an economy with inflation at its highest rate since April 2023.

Mirna Colombo, Nurse Aide:

I have cut down on buying for anything at all that is not really necessary, like basic things, food, hygiene, cleaning items.

Paul Solman:

Orlando-based Mirna Colombo feels the economic pressure too. Unretired at age 63, now working as a nurse's aide, she makes between $12 and $16 an hour.

When do you think you will be able to retire for real?

Mirna Colombo:

I don't see it. Number one, I have to be very realistic of the current status. I don't see it.

Paul Solman:

Ever?

Mirna Colombo:

No, I do not see it. I have to go back to work because medical expenses, bills.

Paul Solman:

Same for Richard Lobinske in Northern Florida, an environmental administrator now making $75,000 a year.

Richard Lobinske, Environmental Administrator:

Health insurance was pretty expensive, and my wife and I both definitely need insurance. We have got chronic conditions that require regular care. My father-in-law's health declined, and we spent a considerable amount of money in his end-of-life care.

So, by the time -- after all of that, most of my retirement savings was gone. So I start -- then I started looking for work.

Paul Solman:

More than half of Americans say they can't afford medications and needed health care,a five-year low, even though Americans have been retiring later.

Geoffrey Sanzenbacher:

There was a long trend towards earlier and earlier retirements as people had pensions and as Social Security came online. And that started to flip in the '90s. And so we have seen about a two-year increase since the turn of the century.

Paul Solman:

But landing a job for retirees returning to work, no piece of cake.

Christine Drinks:

Well, it took me over two years. Jobs look at you like, you don't have a whole lot of life left for me to hire you.

Paul Solman:

The unretirement rate actually peaked in 2022, in part because of a strong job market post-pandemic. But says the economist, compared to so much of the recent past:

Geoffrey Sanzenbacher:

Now we have a rising cost of living and not necessarily as many job openings. And that's what's going to be something I'm really keeping an eye on is, can people unretire even if they want to? Back then, they wanted to, they could.

Paul Solman:

Our final unretiree, 80-year-old Anita Sawyer, a $7.25-an-hour receptionist at the courthouse in Cuthbert, Georgia.

Anita Sawyer, Receptionist:

I was working at a sewing factory up in Cuthbert, made curtains, bed spread.

Paul Solman:

After the factory closed:

Anita Sawyer:

I have done different things, really retired in 2005.

Paul Solman:

Why did you go back to work?

Anita Sawyer:

Because I needed the money. I needed that extra money to survive on.

Paul Solman:

What would you do to the House, for example, if you had more money?

Anita Sawyer:

I'd have a lot done, stuff in like my bathroom and my kitchen. I would like to be able to go somewhere for a couple of days just to get away, just to have a fun day or just to get out.

Paul Solman:

But you're not thinking of going to like Italy or something?

Anita Sawyer:

No, no. Uh-oh.

(LAUGHTER)

Anita Sawyer:

I don't want to go over there, no.

Paul Solman:

What about another state?

Anita Sawyer:

Well, Alabama.

Paul Solman:

Back in Northern Georgia, I asked Christine Drinks to sum up.

Christine Drinks:

A lot of people want to be just retired, but they can't. And I know people who are doing some really strenuous jobs, like in the factory, doing things that they haven't done before.

Paul Solman:

How hard is it on them physically?

Christine Drinks:

They go to work, and when they come home from work, they fix their dinner and they go to bed. And then they're up in the morning doing the same thing all over, five days a week.

Paul Solman:

Drinks consoles one elderly friend in particular.

What does she say to you on the phone when you talk?

Christine Drinks:

She cries a lot.

Paul Solman:

Crying about the fact that she has to work in a factory?

Christine Drinks:

Yes, that she's really upset. She's exhausted. So we talk, and I try to pep her up and, because, honey, I said, you're not the only one. There's a lot of people going through this.

Paul Solman:

And more every day, it seems, in what's becoming a cliche, an America harder and harder for so many to afford.

For the "PBS News Hour," Paul Solman.

Geoff Bennett:

An important story.