Working Retirement

Abstract

The proportion and number of older workers (those older than 65) are expected to increase significantly in the coming decades, and examining this cohort's travel behavior may provide insight into this potential boom. This study is an exploratory analysis to describe working patterns of the older population today, to examine their work trips, and to make some guesses about how the baby boom generation will be similar to or differ from today's older population. With the available literature on travel by the elderly and data from the 2000 U.S. decennial census and the 2001 National Household Travel Survey, the commute and occupational characteristics of older workers in the work force are explored. Topics covered include projected increase in miles driven by older population groups, trends in labor force participation, occupations of older workers, overall travel patterns, travel time, and mode-to-work characteristics; examination of race and ethnic origin of older workers; and description of the older work-at-home population.