Justin Fox, Columnist

Trump Isn't the Only Older Worker Staying on the Job

Why are so many people 65 and up still in the workforce?

February 3, 2017 at 5:34 PM UTC

Justin Fox is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business, economics and other topics involving charts. A former editorial director of the Harvard Business Review, he is author of “The Myth of the Rational Market.”

At least they agree on one thing.
Photographer: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

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In many ways our new president is utterly unique. When it comes to staying in the labor force past age 65, though, Donald Trump is part of a long-running trend (Hillary Clinton is, too1486128690347):

In January, according to the employment numbers released today, an estimated 19.1 percent of Americans 65 and older either had a job or were actively looking for one. That's the highest that percentage has been in a January since 1961 (seasonally adjusted numbers aren't available, so comparing month to month is important). Meanwhile, labor-force participation among "prime age" workers (those 25 to 54) has been on a long downtrend: