![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6338a484cfe65db99faa27a523ae4688.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A longer working life could help economic goals, but not all workers have the flexibility to delay retirement.
Credit: PATRICK T. FALLON \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Key Takeaways<\/p>\n
Some economists say adding older workers may not boost productivity and that output isn\u2019t the only measure that matters.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
The Idea Behind Working 1 More Year\u2014and the $3 Trillion Claim<\/p>\n
Dr. Oz wants workers to delay retirement<\/a> so they can generate more value for the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n At an event last month, Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, suggested that if Americans worked an additional year, it would help reduce the federal debt<\/a> and keep Medicare and Social Security solvent.<\/p>\n “Medicare doesn’t hit you until age 65, so [many Americans] are retiring before they get Medicare benefits<\/a>, before Social Security kicks in,” Oz said. “If we could get the average American\u2014because they feel healthy, they’re vital, they’re strong [and] have agency over their future\u2014to start working a year earlier out of high school or work a year later before they retire … it would generate $3 trillion to the U.S. economy.”<\/p>\n What This Means For You<\/p>\n Even if working longer<\/a> could benefit the economy, it may not be realistic for everyone. Health challenges or job changes can make delaying retirement difficult.<\/p>\n Would Working Longer Actually Boost the Economy?<\/p>\n Data from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (CRR) indicates that, as of 2024, the average retirement age<\/a> was 62.6 for men and 64.6 for women.<\/p>\n However, some experts, like Teresa Ghilarducci, an economics professor at the New School who has studied proposals to encourage people to work longer, disagree with the idea that working longer will help boost the economy.<\/p>\n “If you\u2019re adding workers whose\u00a0productivity<\/a>\u00a0is falling [because they’re older] and not fully employing younger people, you\u2019re not gaining productivity,” Ghilarducci said in a December 2024 interview <\/a>with Investopedia. “We would have a higher\u00a0GDP<\/a>\u00a0if seven-year-olds worked, but we\u2019ve decided our economy\u2019s wealth is not just dependent upon our output, but our quality of life.”<\/p>\n Americans Are Already Retiring Later\u2014But That Trend May Be Reaching Its Limits<\/p>\n Over the past few decades, the average retirement age has increased due to factors like rising life expectancies<\/a>, a decline in physically demanding jobs, and an increase in the full retirement age<\/a> for Social Security.<\/p>\n When Americans do leave the workforce before age 65, many middle-class retirees report doing so for employment-related reasons (54%), while 31% cite health-related reasons, according to a 2025 Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies survey.<\/p>\n As for whether people will work longer in the future, Alicia Munnell, a senior advisor at the CRR, has pointed out that the average retirement age is unlikely to budge unless there are incentives for people to work longer.<\/p>\n “The gains to date in working longer have been great, but we probably have gone as far as we can go without some new development to change people\u2019s incentives,” Munnell wrote in a 2025 report.<\/p>\n