Industry News

On April 15, 2025, the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College released its issue brief, Will the Average Retirement Age Keep Rising? The brief findings show that the factors that have led to increases in the participation of older workers over the last 30 years may be exhausted. As a result, it suggests that future increases in the average retirement age are relatively unlikely. 

According to the brief, “After a century of decline, work activity among older men stabilized in the 1980s and began to rise in the early 1990s. This turnaround reflected changes in Social Security, retirement plans, the nature of work, education levels, and health coverage. In response, the average retirement age for men rose by about three years to 64. In recent years, it has remained relatively stable[.]”  

In addition, the brief states, “The changing work lives of women make it difficult to interpret trends in their average retirement age.” It also adds that the research “suggests that the retirement age for women rose dramatically from about 55 in the 1960s to 62.6 in 2024. Of course, the apparent low retirement ages in the early 1960s simply reflect the fact that fewer women had spent much time in the labor force. In recent years, the average retirement age for women appears to have stabilized.”

The findings indicate that many of the factors which have contributed to the reversal in the labor force participation of older workers seem to have dissipated. As a result, the report concludes that significant future increases in the average retirement age are improbable.

The brief is available here.