About 7 million previously retired Americans have returned to work after an average sabbatical of one-and-a-half years, according to a study by Putnam Investments.
Most of these workers are in a job requiring at least the same skill and experience levels as their prior position, the study found.
"For many, retirement is just a planned pause before resuming a career," says William T. Connolly, head of Retail Management at Putnam Investments. "These 'working retired' are, by our estimate, now almost one-third of all American retirees."
Putnam's based its research on interviews with 1,726 respondents who retired from full-time employment and returned to work.
Of the respondents to the survey, most (54 percent) work part time, 36 percent work full time, and the remaining 10 percent are looking for work. Two-thirds said they planned to return to work following their first retirement.
Two-thirds of working retired survey respondents returned to the workforce because they "wanted to," but the remaining one-third went back out of economic necessity.