Retirement On Hold

WASHINGTON (AP) - In these scary economic times, many older workers are putting the idea of retirement on the back burner.

About a week ago, Jeff Rollison, a 60-year-old employee at the General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, told the automaker he was
retiring. Now, he's changed his mind.

Rollison is his family's sole breadwinner and is worried something could happen to his retiree health benefits before he
becomes eligible for Medicare at 65.

An AARP survey of 1,100 people conducted in December indicated that 16 percent of people 45 and older were postponing retirement
because of the economic downturn.

The percentage of people planning to delay retirement shot up to 57 percent among respondents who were working or looking for a job
and had lost money in the market during the past year.

The recession is not the only reason people are working longer.

People are living longer. And the age at which workers are entitled to receive full Social Security benefits has gone up, too.