On weekday mornings, Myndie Friedman is out the door just as the sun rises over the Atlantic Ocean, a block from her home in Long Beach, New York.
asserted
sun → rise → Beach
Friedman's first stop is a 7:30 a.m. bus, which she takes to a local train station for a roughly hourlong trip into Manhattan's Midtown neighborhood.
asserted
she → take → neighborhood
Then she hops on the subway before exiting and hoofing it 10 minutes to her office job.
asserted
she → hop → job
Still, she has no plans to quit her job as an administrator in a medical office.
asserted
she → have → office
Friedman, a widow, told CBS News her monthly Social Security check covers only a third of her living expenses.
asserted
check → tell → expenses
"I need another two-thirds to live the way I'm living," she said.
"You have to eat"
asserted
You → need → thirds
Friedman is part of a growing cohort of older Americans for whom retirement today is financially out of reach or who find themselves having to return to work to make ends meet.
asserted
ends → grow → work
Nearly one in five adults aged 65 and older is employed or looking for work, the highest percentage in decades, according to federal labor data and Pew Research.
uncertain
adults → age → data
Such workers, found across a range of industries, regions and educational levels, tend to describe their jobs not as a choice but as a financial necessity.
asserted
workers → find → necessity
But the typical single adult spends a baseline of $4,641 a month, according to SoFi Bank, and that's before a single dollar goes toward a phone bill, home repairs or a birthday gift for a grandchild.
uncertain
dollar → spend → grandchild
For many older Americans, that financial gap amounts to a chasm, forcing them back to work at a time they expected, or at least hoped, to be retiring.
asserted
they → amount → time
"Rising costs are on my mind, and they're just going to go higher," Friedman said.
asserted
Friedman → rise → mind
"You have to eat.
asserted
You → have → ?
You have to have healthcare.
asserted
You → have → healthcare
But when you retire, you don't only want 'have-tos.'
asserted
you → retire → tos
I'd like to enjoy my life."
asserted
I → like → life
A 2024 AARP survey found that 20% of Americans 50 and older have no retirement savings, while 70% are worried that prices will rise faster than their income.
asserted
prices → find → income
In 1985, the labor force participation rate for Americans 65 and older hit a historic low of just under 11%.
asserted
rate → hit → %
Over the past 20 years, however, the employment rate among workers in that demographic has soared 117%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
uncertain
rate → soar → Control
The Bureau of Labor Statistics now projects that the 75-and-older workforce will grow faster than any other age cohort in the labor market, increasing an estimated 97% between 2020 and 2030.
asserted
workforce → project → 2020
The CDC cites the country's aging population as a primary driver of this shift in the American workforce.
asserted
CDC → cite → workforce
Americans are living longer, but many older adults find that their savings haven't kept up with rising costs.
asserted
savings → live → costs
The grim math is simple: A nest egg that might have funded a 15-year period of retirement falls short when stretched across 25 or 30 years.
uncertain
that → fund → years
That encompasses people with employer-sponsored retirement plans, as well as the roughly 56 million workers who lack access to one.
asserted
who → encompass → one
saved for retirement, according to a recentFor workers who do have retirement savings, the median balance is $40,000, the group found.
uncertain
group → save → savings
Not all workers of retirement age describe their work lives as a hardship.
asserted
workers → describe → hardship
Helen Cuocci, who is in her 70s, spends much of her day on her feet, stocking shelves and ringing up customers at a CVS in Connecticut.
asserted
who → spend → Connecticut
She's worked at CVS for the last 18 years, a job she took after working for 40 years as an administrative assistant.
asserted
she → work → assistant
Cuocci likes to look on the bright side when it comes to working at an age people would normally have punched out for good.
asserted
people → like → age
"I never thought I would get a retail job," she told CBS News.
asserted
she → think → News
"I always thought I'd be sitting at a little desk with my cup of coffee and just on my computer.
asserted
I → think → computer
You're more active, and you see more people."
asserted
you → see → people
Her husband requires an expensive medication, and her full-time status at CVS gives the couple access to health benefits that lower his prescription costs to a manageable level.
asserted
that → require → level
"We own a home, we have two cars and we like to travel," she said.
asserted
she → own → cars
"Without working at CVS, I couldn't do all these things."
asserted
I → work → things
For many seniors like Cuocci, it is not uncommon to shift to a different type of work in retirement.
asserted
it → shift → retirement
Alan Bergman, a 71-year-old resident of Somers, New York, spent most of his career running a commercial printing company.
asserted
Bergman → spend → company
He retired shortly after selling his business in 2018.
asserted
He → retire → 2018
But Bergman felt restless and was also concerned that his savings might not stretch far enough to support both him and his wife through retirement.
uncertain
savings → feel → retirement
So he launched a business as a personal historian, a job he does from his home office, interviewing other older adults to privately publish their life stories.
asserted
he → launch → stories
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
