August 06, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

More seniors working full time

Since the mid-1990s there has been a dramatic shift in the part-time versus full-time status of the older workforce.

Workers 65 and over by work schedule, 1977-2007
[Chart data—TXT]

The ratio of part-time to full-time employment among older workers was relatively steady from 1977 to 1990. Between 1990 and 1995, part-time work among older workers began trending upward with a corresponding decline in full-time employment.

But after 1995, that trend began a marked reversal with full-time employment rising sharply. Between 1995 and 2007, the number of older workers on full-time work schedules nearly doubled while the number working part-time rose just 19 percent. As a result, full-timers now account for a majority among older workers: 56 percent in 2007, up from 44 percent in 1995.

These data are from the Current Population Survey program. To learn more, see "Older Workers," BLS Spotlight on Statistics, July 2008. 

 

Related TED articles:

Happy 10th Birthday, TED!

The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far.

Find out more about the story of TED