Older workers are more than twice as likely as younger workers to be self-employed.
By Dr. Richard Fry
Senior Researcher
Pew Research Center
By Dana Braga
Research Assistant
Pew Research Center
Roughly one-in-five Americans ages 65 and older (19%) were employed in 2023 – nearly double the share of those who were working 35 years ago.
Not only are older workers increasing in number, but their earning power has grown in recent decades. In 2022, the typical worker age 65 or older earned $22 per hour, up from $13 in 1987.
Earnings for younger workers haven’t grown as much. As a result, the wage gap between older workers and those ages 25 to 64 has narrowed significantly.
Linked to their higher wages, today’s older workers are different from older workers of the past in other important way.