The Workers Opting to Retire Instead of Taking On AI

Their careers spanned the personal computing, internet and smartphone waves. But some older workers see AI’s arrival as the cue to exit.

By Lauren Weber and Ray A. Smith of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"After rising for decades and then hovering around 40% in the 2010s, the share of Americans over 55 years old in the workforce has slipped to 37.2%, the lowest level in more than 20 years. The financial cushion of rising home equity and stock-market returns is driving some of the decline"

"they don’t want to spend the last years of their career going through the tumult of AI adoption"

"Many people retire when key elements of their work lives are disrupted at once"

"In an AARP survey last summer of 5,000 people 50 and over, 25% of those who planned to retire sooner than expected counted work stress and burnout as factors. About half of those retired said they had left work at least partly because they had the financial security to do so.

In general, older Americans are less likely than younger counterparts to use AI, research shows. About 30% of people from ages 30 to 49 said they used ChatGPT on the job, nearly double the share of those 50 and older"

"Employers already under pressure to cut workers—such as in the tech industry—may welcome some of these retirements, said Gad Levanon, chief economist at Burning Glass Institute"

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