Analysis of data from the Health and Retirement Survey showed that nearly 50 percent of retirees follow a nontraditional retirement path that involves partial retirement or unretirement, and that 26 percent of retirees later unretire, most commonly about two years after retirement. The unretirement rate is even higher among younger retirees (as high as 35 percent among those retiring at ages 53-54). (p. 28)

Maestas, Nicole. (2007, April). Back to work: Expectations and realizations of work after retirement. Rand Working Paper WR-196-2. Retrieved July 5, 2007 from http://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/2007/RAND_WR196-2.pdf

Data from the Health and Retirement Survey was used to track and date respondents’ transitions in and out of the labor force over time. The analysis sample of 7000 obervations was composed of members of the initial HRS cohort, who were first interviewed in 1992 when they were between the ages of 51 and 61, and their spouses. Respondents are re-interviewed every two years; therefore thefirst six waves yield data over the period 1992 through 2002.

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