Over 50s are ready to leave work, but it's about money not retirement

We often hear how younger Americans are considering changing jobs or starting a business in pursuit of increased wealth, but they are not the only ones.

A new report shines a light on the millions of over 50s who are also seeking to improve their fortunes and working lives through making changes in their careers and the barriers that exist that can make that challenging.

At a time when older people would perhaps be more focused on thinking about retirement, work options to make more money is the number one reason for planning a job change among those who took part in the research by the non-profit, non-partisan AARP. Making a difference and flexible working options complete the top three.

A quarter of respondents said they plan to make a job change this year, up 10 percentage points from a year ago, with 40% of these saying that means getting a new job. There has also been a rise in the percentage who plan to start a business at 16%, up from 9% a year ago.

“Today, roughly 38 million older adults are working; that’s more than two and a half times the number of older adults working 40 years ago,” said Carly Roszkowski, Vice President of Financial Resilience Programming at AARP. “With high prices and inflation continuing to impact everything from housing costs to groceries, it’s no surprise older adults are looking to increase their income.”

The report highlights how, even when the desire to change jobs may be there, many respondents believe that they may not find a change easy to make.

Around three quarters of older adults believe their age will be a barrier to getting hired and this appears to be backed up by AARP research which consistently shows that 64% of workers aged 50-plus have reported seeing or experiencing age discrimination in the workplace.

Older workers are also concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence. Around one third said they were worried that AI could impact their job security.