Atypical Work in Retirement Could Help Seniors Prolong Careers, Increase Retirement Security

A research brief from the Boston College Center for Retirement Research (CRR) suggests atypical work could help retirees extend their careers with more flexible hours and less strain, reports Reverse Mortgage Daily . "Researchers define nontraditional jobs in various ways, including gig-economy jobs, on-call work, temporary positions, part-time slots, and/or self-employment," the brief says. "Most of these definitions focus on the worker's relationship to the employer. This brief . . . instead looks at the characteristics of the jobs, defining nontraditional jobs simply as those with neither employer-provided health insurance nor a retirement savings plan." For retirees with not enough savings to cover retirement costs, the CRR study finds that their overall situation sees a notable improvement. "The results do not support the hypothesis that underprepared workers are more likely to use nontraditional jobs in late career," says the brief. "However, they do suggest that underprepared workers who switch to such jobs see a substantial improvement in their retirement security." Underprepared workers are more likely to look for atypical work in later years, which might help them close gaps in retirement financing.