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NextGen Magazine

 
 

Younger Americans Want to Lower the Retirement Age, Survey Finds

By:
S.J. Steinhardt
Published Date:
Sep 12, 2023

GettyImages-1170172903-early-retirement-240

Fully 51 percent of Americans aged 18 to 43 —the members of Generations Y and Z—want to lower the retirement age, a survey commissioned by career resource site ResumeBuilder.com found.

Of that group, 59 percent said the retirement age should be adjusted to age 60 or younger.

The reason given by 75 percent of the respondents for lowering the retirement age was to open up job opportunities for younger workers, while 38 percent cited removing older workers from positions of power as their reason.

Respondents also expressed sympathy for older generations. “A good amount of people 60 and older have a lot of health issues and they should have the option to retire,” wrote one respondent. “People shouldn’t have to work til their lives are half over and never get to enjoy it or the benefits of their hard-earned money.”

Only 16 percent of the total respondents said that the full retirement age should be raised. Of this group, 51 percent said it should be raised to age 68 or 69, 30 percent to age 70-72, and 6 percent age 73 or above, while 15 percent were unsure.

“I’m not surprised that the majority of Gen Zers and millennials support lowering the retirement age,” said Julia Toothacre, a ResumerBuilder.com resume and career strategist. “Gen Z and millennials tend to focus more on balance and enjoying life than working.

Two-thirds of the respondents hope to receive Social Security, yet four in 10 believe it is unlikely funds will be available. Three in four respondents believed that wealthy Americans should not qualify for Social Security.

“I’ve seen millennial values shift throughout the years from being focused on work and promotions to now being more focused on family and having time to live their lives,” said Toothacre. “With Gen Z, I’ve seen the need for balance start much earlier, so it makes sense that they would also be in favor of lowering the Social Security age.”

The online poll was commissioned by ResumeBuilder.com and conducted on SurveyMonkey Audience starting Aug. 31. Respondents consisted of a national sample that was randomly selected from a U.S. panel and balanced according to U.S. census data for age, gender and region. Overall, 702 respondents between the ages of 18 and 43 completed the survey.