Take This Job, I'm Done

The pandemic and bull market have led to an increase in the number of workers who are retiring.

- By Sandra Block, Illustration by Iker Ayestaran

PERHAPS YOU HAVE HEARD BY now about the Great Resignation, the term coined to describe the mass exodus of workers who have left their jobs in recent months. Employers are scrambling to retain their employees or attract new ones, and in the service industry, “Help Wanted” signs, with promises of bonuses and other perks, are as ubiquitous as hand sanitizer.

Although many workers have switched to jobs offering better pay and benefits, some who have left a job may never return to work, thanks to a secondary trend that could be characterized as the Gray Resignation. In the third quarter of 2021, 50.3% of adults older than age 55 were retired, up from 48.1% in 2019, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center (see the chart below). Nearly 67% of adults between age 65 and 74 were retired in the third quarter, up from 64% during the same period in 2019.