Boomers are refusing to retire - and it’s pushing up the average age for new hires

America’s workforce is getting older, and younger job seekers can thank boomers for it.

Workers age 65 or older are putting off or returning from retirement and remaining in their job roles longer, reducing opportunities for younger workers to fill open roles.

The trend has driven up the average age of the U.S. labor force from 40.5 years in 2022 to over 42 years at the end of 2025, according to a study published earlier this month from workforce data firm Revelio Labs.

“The average age of workers starting new positions has risen sharply since 2022 as older workers re-enter or remain in the labor market and younger workers face fewer entry opportunities,” the study said. “This pattern is consistent with a labor market that is slowing, becoming more selective, and prioritizing experience over long-term potential.”

The study comes amid a sluggish job market with the unemployment rate hovering around four-year highs. Employers are tightening their hiring requirements and taking on less risk, which means fewer jobs offered to inexperienced applicants, the study noted.

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“When growth slows, hiring does not disappear; it becomes more conservative,” Revelio said. “Experience, immediate productivity, and role readiness suddenly begin to matter more, making older workers comparatively attractive.”

Service-related jobs and several other occupations saw the biggest rise in average age from 2015 to 2025, according to Revelio:

Why these occupations? It may have something to do with how these jobs don’t require workers to quickly adapt to technological changes and instead rely on experience and people skills.

“These are roles where accumulated experience, interpersonal skills, and institutional knowledge are central to productivity - and where performance does not depend on keeping up with rapidly changing technical toolkits,” Revelio wrote.

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On the flip side, the report found that occupations including cybersecurity analyst saw average age increases of one year or less. In one case, there was a drop in the average age from 2015 to 2025:

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“More technical and analytics-driven roles have aged far less,” Revelio noted. “The result is a growing divergence across occupations in who gets hired, not because of structural shifts in labor demand, but because hiring incentives have shifted.”

The study stressed that the aging workforce isn’t due to older workers switching careers, but rather staying in their roles while hiring standards have shifted away from younger applicants.

“Older workers are staying longer in the labor force or returning from retirement, while younger workers face higher barriers to entry,” Revelio said. “The result is a workforce that looks older, turns over less, and blurs the once-clear line between working life and retirement.”

While the Revelio study didn’t pin down exactly why older workers are choosing to stay in the workforce or put their retirement on hold to work again, payroll and human resources platform Gusto noted in a 2025 study that two important factors play a role. Workers are living longer and their cost of living is rising, which means they need to save more for retirement than they initially expected.