Un-retiring: 20% of retirees looking to return to work due to inflation

Nearly everyone in the country is feeling the impact of high inflation right now, and retirees are no exception.

According to a survey done by Resume Builder, one in five retirees said they will likely return to the workforce this year. The reason? The rapidly rising cost of living.

This trend is quite the turnaround from increased retirement that occurred at the start of the pandemic.

Taking advantage of remote work

Resume Builder surveyed 800 retirees. Eight percent reported they were “very likely” to return to the workforce, while 12% are “somewhat likely.”

When these people unretire, where are they going to go to work? Nineteen percent said they plan to go back to their last employer, 23% will remain in the same field but try a different company — but over half (58%) will go into a different industry altogether.

Other than financial reasons, experts say the wide availability of remote work is driving some retirees back into the workforce.

Here’s how returning retirees feel about remote work:

• 31% prefer remote work, but would work in-person
• 18% will only work remotely
• 17% prefer in-person, but would work remotely
• 17% will only work in-person, and
• 17% have no preference.

Finances and boredom

Inflation is the top reason by far that people are unretiring, with almost 70% saying the rising cost of living is a huge problem for them.

The bottom line is, people are worried about money. Forty-four percent of those surveyed reported they are “somewhat concerned” about their finances, and 39% are “highly concerned.”

Expenses are increasing rapidly, too. Over three-quarters of retirees said their daily expenses have increased either “somewhat” or “greatly” in the past three months. An additional 19% reported their retirement savings are lacking.

Other reasons for returning to work include:

• Wanting to learn a new skill or combat boredom (24%)
• Wanting to take advantage of the new remote work culture (23%)
• Wanting to take advantage of the abundance of jobs due to the labor shortage (22%), and
• Wanting to pay off medical debts from the pandemic (13%).

Half are enthusiastic

It’s not all entirely grim news. Most of those who are unretiring aren’t dreading it. In fact, 14% reported they’re very enthusiastic about getting back to work.

Additionally,

• 38% are somewhat enthusiastic
• 25% are neutral
• 14% are somewhat unenthusiastic, and
• 9% are very unenthusiastic.