The post Why Turning 60 Can Feel Like a Career Turning Point first appeared on Crafting Your Home.
For many people, turning 60 represents a lifetime of experience: years of skills built, problems solved, relationships developed, and lessons learned. It might seem like the moment when expertise should carry the most weight. Yet for many older workers, this stage of life can bring an unsettling question: Will employers still see what I have to offer, or will they only see my age?
The challenge isn’t simply wanting to keep working. It is about what happens when experience, which should be an advantage, becomes something employers may quietly question. Research on hiring, layoffs, and later-life career changes suggests that many workers face a difficult reality: reaching traditional retirement age does not always mean having a choice about whether to keep working or what that work will look like.
When age becomes a barrier before a conversation begins
One of the hardest parts of age bias is that it can happen before a candidate ever gets the opportunity to explain their value.
A large résumé experiment led by labor economist David Neumark examined more than 40,000 applications for real jobs. Researchers sent equivalent résumés that differed only in signals suggesting the applicant’s age. The study found evidence that older women, particularly those closer to retirement age, received fewer callbacks than younger applicants.
The finding highlights a difficult contradiction: a worker in their 60s may bring decades of knowledge and experience, but hiring systems may reduce their opportunity to demonstrate that value. When fewer applications lead to interviews, candidates may never reach the stage where their skills, adaptability, and accomplishments can be considered.
Age bias is not always expressed through obvious comments. It can show up as assumptions about whether someone will fit into a workplace, learn new tools, or stay invested in a role. In AARP survey research, 64% of workers age 50 and older said they had seen or personally experienced age discrimination in the workplace. Reported experiences included being passed over for training, being viewed as “overqualified,” or assumptions that older workers are less comfortable with technology. These reports reflect people’s experiences and perceptions; they do not necessarily mean every incident met the legal definition of discrimination.
A late-career layoff can change the entire financial picture.
Losing a job can be difficult at any age, but a later-life job loss can bring a different kind of uncertainty. For workers closer to retirement, rebuilding a career may mean fewer years to recover lost earnings or savings.
Research from the Urban Institute looked at workers in their early 50s who had long-term, full-time jobs. The study found that slightly more than half eventually experienced an employer-related involuntary separation connected to extended unemployment or a significant, lasting decline in earnings. Only about one in 10 later earned at least as much as they had before.
These findings show why a late-career job loss is not always a temporary setback. For some workers, it can reshape the path toward retirement, changing not only income but also expectations about what the final years of a career will look like.
The concern is not simply whether older workers are willing to work. It is whether they can find opportunities that recognize their previous experience rather than forcing them to start over.
The “second act” is not always a choice.
Stories about reinvention after 60 often focus on exciting new beginnings: launching a passion project, changing industries, or pursuing work that feels more meaningful. Those paths do happen, but later-life career changes are not always planned.
Urban Institute research on older workers found that about three in 10 later-life career changes followed events such as layoffs or business closures. For some workers, moving into a new role is less about pursuing a dream and more about adapting to circumstances.
Many older workers transition into what are often called “bridge jobs” before leaving the workforce completely. These positions may offer flexibility or a way to remain active, but they do not always provide the same pay, stability, hours, or professional status as a previous career.
That reality adds complexity to retirement. Continuing to work may not mean continuing in the same type of role or with the same level of security.
Staying in the workforce often means working differently.
More Americans are working later in life. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 19.1% of Americans age 65 and older were working or looking for work in 2025. However, remaining employed does not always mean maintaining a traditional full-time career.
Among employed people age 65 and older, 38.3% worked part-time in 2024, compared with 14.2% among workers ages 55 to 64. The numbers suggest that many older workers remain connected to the workforce while shifting toward different arrangements.
For some, that change may reflect personal preference. For others, it may reflect job-market realities, household finances, or the availability of opportunities. The broader picture is that working beyond traditional retirement age can take many forms.
Experience still matters, but workplaces have to recognize it
The law establishes protections against age discrimination. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects workers age 40 and older from employment discrimination based on age at employers with 20 or more employees. Yet reporting remains limited. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has reported that only 3% of older workers who said they experienced age discrimination filed a complaint with an employer or government agency.
That gap means official complaints do not fully capture what older workers experience.
AARP research found that 74% of adults age 50 and older believed age could be a barrier to getting hired. The conversation around aging at work is therefore not only about retirement decisions or individual choices. It is also about whether workplaces create opportunities for people with decades of experience to continue contributing.
Turning 60 does not automatically mark the end of a career. But for many workers, it can be a moment when assumptions about age begin competing with evidence of ability. The question is not whether older workers have something to offer. The challenge is whether hiring systems, career paths, and workplace cultures allow that experience to be seen.
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