These are supposed to be the golden years for Pat Patterson of Waianae.
But at 83 she’s barely scraping by and is looking for work.
Patterson has been applying online for administrative assistant jobs without success and said she believes her age is a factor in not being hired even though she hasn’t been told that directly.
"I have the skills," she said. "I’ve used them for many years. I feel I’m capable of doing a lot more than anybody will hire me to do. I’ve submitted 25 applications this year and have a very good résumé, but I don’t get called."
In Hawaii last year 3.4 percent, or 2,238, of the more than 65,000 people 80 and over were in the labor force, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
People work into their 80s and beyond mainly because they need the money, enjoy the social interaction or are in a family business.
Some seniors need to work after their savings were erased during the 2008 stock market crash and the recession.
"They might have saved enough prior to retirement, but following the recession, their retirement income quite likely fell and that would motivate them to continue working," said labor economist Lawrence "Bill" Boyd of the University of Hawaii at West Oahu’s Center for Labor Education and Research.
In Patterson’s case she said she doesn’t have any savings after her career as an executive secretary because of two alcoholic husbands, both now deceased.
"They used their money for drinking, and I had to take care of four children," she said.
Patterson gets about $2,200 a month from Social Security, renting a room in her condo and from real estate income, but she said the real estate income will end in about two years. Her mortgage expense, including maintenance fee, is $1,236 a month. She said her maintenance fee has increased to $630 a month from $175 a month in 1992.
"It would be very important to get a job," she said. "I am very capable, and I’m very active in community affairs. I’m also going to a computer applications and civic engagement class at Leeward Community College."
Patterson said she’s had one in-person interview, one online response and one phone call out of her 25 applications.
"They can’t discriminate against me because of my age, but quite often (prospective employers) ask the year you graduated from high school," she said. "That’s the way they discriminate. If the applicant is truthful, 1947 is a long time ago."
Liesl Bernard, Honolulu branch manager for Robert Half International, said the employment agency doesn’t ask people it interviews for their age.
"We place people based on skills and experience," she said. "We don’t ask discriminatory questions from candidates, but we do deal with people of all ages, so if they have the appropriate skills, we can definitely place them."
There are reasons beyond financial needs to work past 80, AARP Hawaii spokesman Bruce Bottorff said.
"We’re definitely seeing an increase in the number of people working longer and not thinking about retirement in the traditional way," Bottorff said. "Some are driven by financial need; others are motivated by personal passion or the desire to stay socially connected. Research suggests that as people get older the more nonfinancial motivations to stay in the workforce grow in importance."
Roughly 2 in 5 workers, or 41 percent, age 70 and over cited nonfinancial reasons for why they work or are looking for work, according to a 2012 survey conducted by AARP and the Society for Human Resource Management. That compares with about 1 in 5 workers, or 19 percent, age 50 and over who said they were working or looking for work primarily for nonfinancial reasons.
For those age 50 and over, nearly 8 in 10, or 78 percent, said money or health insurance was the primary reason they are working or looking for work.
Kailua resident Tony Lenzer, 83, is one octogenarian who’s working for reasons other than finances. However, he said the extra money is welcome this year because his wife has been ill and required some health care that was not covered under their insurance plan.
Lenzer, who has a contract as a consultant to the Hawaii Family Caregiver Coalition, is a retired University of Hawaii professor who taught gerontology (the study of aging) as well as related subjects such as human development and life-cycle courses.
"There are a good many people who are entrepreneurs who work into their later years because they’ve created a business and want to see it continue," Lenzer said. "Financially, there could be plenty of older people 80 and over still working because they need the money, but generally I think it’s a source of satisfaction that you’re able to continue to be productive and contribute."
Lenzer, who has averaged about 20 hours a week working for the Hawaii Family Caregiver Coalition, said he plans to step down from that position next month because he has many things to do and can’t do them efficiently in his available free time.
Mel Hertz, 68, a Kailua-based certified financial planner who goes by the moniker "The Retirement Coach," agrees that most of the time people in their 80s want to work.
"There are a lot of jobs that younger people don’t want to do because it’s not in their career path, but these are jobs that still need to get done," Hertz said. "Sometimes older people have the experience or the mental facilities and are able and willing to do the kind of work the younger people don’t want to do."
Hawaii’s 80-and-over labor force is less than half a percent of the nation’s workforce for the same group.
In 2012, 4.9 percent, or 530,000, of the 10.7 million people 80 and over nationwide were in the labor force. The labor force data include those employed or looking for work but leave out the segment of the population that was in the armed forces, jail or care homes.
Hawaii’s trend over the past five years has fluctuated above and below the national numbers, likely due to the state’s small sample size. In 2012 the percentage of those 80 and over in the labor force was 3.4. In 2011 it was 5.3 percent, compared with 4.9 percent again in the national labor force.
"People in Hawaii 80 and over could find themselves in different circumstances than those in the rest of the U.S., such as the state possibly having a higher proportion of wealthy retirees or retired military personnel drawing pensions," Boyd said.
