The organization surveyed tenured faculty over the age of 50 around the country and found that nearly half (49 percent) of professors surveyed reported they were “reluctant by choice” to retire by age 67; they both expected and wanted to pass the age of retirement in their current positions. Only 35 percent expect to retire at 67 and the remaining 16 percent said they were “reluctantly reluctant” ― desiring to retire at the typical age, but not feeling like they would be in an appropriate financial position to do so. Female faculty members were more likely than their male counterparts to expect to retire at 67, and those at doctoral/research institutions were the most likely to be willfully prolonging their retirement.
This is not a new idea. According to PBS’ Paul Solman in a 2013 special, “America’s workforce is graying, and so is academia along with it. Professors over 65 have more than doubled since 2000. Some 40 percent of all workers say they will work past 65.”
It is true that academia is not the only graying industry. In the most recent workforce projection by the Department of Labor, it was estimated that 31.9 percent of people between 65 and 74 will still be working (compared with 26.8 percent in 2012 and 20.4 percent in 2002), the first time in history the number will top 30 percent.
Concurrently, the department projected a decline in workers of “prime” age (under 55).
There are many reasons for this trend. According to Paul Yakoboski, the report’s author, “It’s more than just finances.”
“No one’s going to retire unless the numbers add up,” he said, “but even at an age in which the numbers add up,” many professors are reporting decreasing intent to leave academia, he said. In fact, 94 percent of those who were “reluctant by choice” said they enjoy and feel fulfilled by their work. Eighty-two percent of those believe they will still be effective as faculty members at that point and 59 percent said they see no reason to retire.
