Labor Market Competition among Older Workers: The Case of Returning to Work after Retirement

Ben Kail, Duke University
Ryan Finnigan, Duke University

According to recent estimates a large minority of retirees will return to work at some point during their retirement. However, it is unclear how local labor markets impact retirees' labor force behavior. To this end we use data from 2009 Annual Community Survey to ask two questions. First, does the age structure of local labor markets impact retirees’ decision to reenter the labor force? Second, after reentering the labor force, are former retirees’ chances of securing new employment limited by the age structure of the local labor market? We find that retirees have greater odds of returning to the labor force in metropolitan areas where people over 65 comprise a larger share of the labor market but retirees also have lower odds of securing new employment in these areas.