Some of America’s oldest workers hold jobs while battling major health issues

Patricia Willson, 93, stares intently at her leg as her nurse unwraps layers of bandages, revealing a scar that, to Willson’s elation, is nowhere near as gruesome as it had been months ago.

Hunched over from a fractured back, Willson scrolls through her phone to remind her nurse what the scar had looked like. Last December, she sliced her leg open on a box. A few months later, the three-inch gash got infected.

“It scared me so bad when my legs started hurting,” Willson tells her nurse, as Business Insider visited her home in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, earlier this year.

“You’re a medical masterpiece,” her nurse says. “You’ve been through a lot. Did you mention how many times you’ve broken a bone?”

“Well, I’ve had 14 broken arms,” Willson replies.

As she inches back to her desk once her leg is tended to, Willson stops to clear off a stack of papers. Nestled between bills and medical records on one side of the desk sits a stapled-together printout of 50 websites for finding freelance work. Tucked away on the other side is a slightly wrinkled cover letter she’s been sending to companies.

“I really need a job,” she says under her breath.

There aren’t too many people her age looking for work, she acknowledges somberly. Willson, a mother of six, worked in payroll at companies like Pfizer before opening a home rental business in 2006, which she runs with her daughter and her son-in-law. Until four years ago, Willson was on her feet doing chores around the property; she has since become less able to perform physical tasks.

“When you don’t know what to do, you don’t do anything,” Willson says. “Things snowballed on me, and I did not foresee that things would get worse.”

She’s one of the nearly 1.4 million people over age 65 who have a disability and still work — whether by choice, like some, or by necessity, like Willson, who says that after paying all her bills, she sometimes struggles to have extra money left at the end of the month to buy a full cart of groceries.

On a recent group call AARP held about applying for jobs, Willson suspected she was the oldest there by at least a decade. With almost nothing in savings, even with Social Security, she’s spent hours each day browsing remote jobs and educating herself on what may be out there, knowing full well that most companies might not consider someone at her age.

Some nights, she says, the stress of her situation keeps her from sleeping.

“I’m worried every night when I go to bed that what I have isn’t going to last until I die,” Willson says. “For God’s sake, I should have saved every penny I could save.”

It’s a growing reality that older Americans are increasingly relying on work to make ends meet. Nearly 550,000 were working into their 80s and beyond as of 2023, according to a Business Insider analysis of 2023 Census data. That’s over 4% of the population aged 80 and above.

Of the more than 175 people 80 and older who spoke to Business Insider about working later in life, most mentioned some health issue as a challenge. Common ones included arthritis, mobility impairments, heart disease, hearing loss, and memory problems. Most of these didn’t prevent them from performing their job tasks.

A few said their conditions were severe enough that they would have retired years ago if they could have, though they need to work to pay their bills. Their health issues have led them to either struggle throughout the day or find employment where they can work around periods of pain.

For four decades, Patricia Moore, 81, has managed a gas station, earning about $36,000 a year despite suffering from neuropathy and swelling. It’s exhausting some days, but she has to work to supplement her $2,800 monthly Social Security income, as she doesn’t have sufficient savings.

“Retirement is not in the near future, as it costs more every month to just survive,” said Moore, who lives in California.

The average retirement age in the US is 62, when accounting for people who retire early because of disabilities.

Though much research shows that work prolongs people’s lives, some papers suggest that work is detrimental to longevity for those with health issues or who work in physical jobs. Research by Teresa Ghilarducci, an economics professor at The New School in New York, suggests that working later in life benefits those who want to work — and harms those with no choice but to work, especially as mortality risks and stress levels increase.

Business Insider’s analysis of Census data found that while many of the most common occupations for Americans 80 and older are less risky, meaning lower incidences of injuries or fatalities, thousands work in higher-risk professions, such as truck driving, personal care, janitorial work, and construction. In interviews, some workers in these professions said that while they mostly enjoy the work, they worry that their health could hinder their productivity — or that working could put their lives in danger.

The entire US population is aging, too, suggesting that older people are more likely to stay in the workforce in the coming years. In a decade, estimates suggest, there will be more Americans 65 and older than below 18 — a flip of the current distribution of age, and a challenge when it comes to keeping an economy growing.

“To offset those pressures on the workforce, people who continue to work into their 80s, beyond conventional retirement ages, help the equation,” said Nicole Maestas, a professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School, adding that the US has already seen substantial reductions in GDP growth due to an aging population.

With fewer people available to work — and therefore fewer people paying the taxes that fund healthcare benefits — Maestas said companies and policymakers should consider “how we can take advantage of technology to complement work.”

During the pandemic, companies rushed to partner with health-based advisors and adopt more age-friendly benefits and health-related policies, said Talia Varley, managing director of global corporate advisory at the Cleveland Clinic. Workplaces are now taking more consideration into medical leave policies, physical accessibility, menopause, phased retirement policies, and disability accommodations. Still, she said, there’s much to do.

When money is tight, work takes precedence

David Hugo Barrett, 82, begins every middle and high school class he teaches with life lessons about the importance of working hard and staying out of trouble. For a few hours each day, he feels young, learning Gen Alpha slang and staying in touch with the latest tech trends.

But when he returns home each night, he’s reminded of the disabilities that have made his outlook less stable. He has lymphedema, which leads to swelling in his legs, and peripheral neuropathy, which causes nerve damage in his feet.

“People say age is nothing but a number. That’s just simply not true,” Barrett said. “Aging is not something that can be taken lightly.”

Barrett works as a substitute teacher in Maryland, having spent decades as a systems engineer and teacher. He retired in 2018 and self-published his memoir, “A Newark Childhood,” before returning to work part-time in November 2024. His wife, 74, works as a substitute teacher for elementary school students. Staying retired was not an option, he said.

“The financial part is not insignificant, and I look forward to getting those checks every two weeks,” Barrett said. “I wish I had waited until I was older to take advantage of my Social Security. In that calculation of how long I’m going to live with my 401(k), I underfunded it because I’ve lived way beyond what I expected.”

Margaret Morganroth Gullette, a resident scholar at Brandeis University in Massachusetts who studies aging, said that because people’s incomes often peak in their mid-50s, it’s much harder to earn an adequate salary in later years — which keeps people employed for longer, even amid severe health challenges.

“Ethically speaking, if we had a good healthcare system in the United States that covered everybody from cradle to grave, we would have more healthy people,” she said, adding that mid-career ageism can push back people’s retirement ages. Additionally, about 26 million Americans under 65 are uninsured, so those who face medical challenges may have to work later to recover medical expenses, she said.

Jane Way, 84, wanted to continue a professional career into her retirement years despite mobility limitations. She’s been in a wheelchair for five years.

Way, who lives outside Phoenix, works remotely as the US accountant for a South African orphanage, often logging in early in the morning to accommodate the time zone difference. Everything she needs is nearby, so she considers her health issues “not a big deal.”

Way is dependent on her Social Security and paycheck to get by, as she did not expect to live to her 80s. She spent her retirement savings early, putting two grandchildren through college. Her son and grandson live with her.

“I intend to be working when I reach 100,” Way said. “We’ll see if that happens.”

Fatigue often gets in the way

Ardel Richter, 84, had a storied career in real estate sales and as a notary signing agent. But in 2022, she spiraled after a “perfect storm” of events — heightened competition in the real estate market that tanked her income, her husband’s death in a car crash, and the sale of her rental properties at a meager profit.

Now, Richter, who lives in north-central Arkansas, accepts whatever notary jobs she can find, often at a lower fee than she’d like. She estimates she makes about $685 a month. Between her $842 monthly Social Security, one remaining rental property that brings in $1,250 a month, and her notary job, she brings in just $185 over her usual expenses each month.

“Being tethered to a cellphone and/or computer isn’t freeing, but it works, as there is no way I could cope with a job with set hours,” Richter said.

Although she considers her health good, the stress of work and some minor health issues make her feel more tired. She takes calcium supplements, struggles to lift heavier objects, and finds that daily tasks take longer than they did two years ago.

“It’s a tightrope walk with no net,” Richter said. “Nor do I know how long the rope is.”

Jack Rowe, a former Aetna CEO and professor of health policy and aging at Columbia University, said the “forgotten middle,” meaning those who earn above the poverty line but not enough to live comfortably, are particularly vulnerable to a dearth of geriatricians, changes to Medicaid policy, and care worker staffing challenges. This demographic often cannot afford to quit working, which could contribute to ailments like fatigue.

Despite working for six decades in various roles, Kathy Curtis, 81, has found herself with limited savings and facing health issues.

For the past decade, Curtis has worked part-time in the office of a local water company, earning $18 an hour. Because she lives in a rural area in Northern California, where seeing people out and about is less likely, the job is “like a social event,” she said. Still, she regrets how tired it makes her feel. She gets out of breath easily, though she’s grateful her health issues of the past, such as breast cancer and blood clots in her lungs, have gone away.

Between $1,186 in Social Security and the couple hundred dollars she makes from work each month, she squeezes by, she says. Her homeowners’ insurance rose after the region’s wildfires. Her grandson lives with her and helps her out.

“I’ve never made a lot of money, but I’ve also never looked, acted, or felt like a poverty case either, even though a great deal of the time I’ve stayed just barely above poverty,” Curtis said.

Working for work’s sake

Some of those who don’t technically need to work told Business Insider that it provides something necessary: a purpose.

Clark Allan Blasdell, 81, works full-time for a nonprofit community development corporation he founded half a century ago and has no regrets about how he managed his finances. Actually getting to work, though, is much more of a feat than ever.

Two years ago, Blasdell started going blind. He lost his driver’s license, so he has to take the train or rely on others to get around. It’s been harder to stay on top of his type 1 diabetes since he regularly has to check his blood sugar levels. Still, he hopes to work until the day he dies since the extra money won’t hurt.

“I’m just hopeful that I’ll be able to keep my ears open, my eyes open, and that they’re working, and I’m trying to find somebody who can help me with this,” Blasdell said.

Andrew Crowell, vice chairman of wealth management at the financial services company DA Davidson, said that financial advisors have worked increasingly more with clients on addressing long-term care and health planning instead of waiting until health deteriorates.

“We’re actively trying to engage in those conversations when people are in their 50s and early 60s, when they’re healthy, they’re insurable, and they can be at a preferred rate,” Crowell said. “Don’t wait till you’re in your 70s and you’ve now got glaucoma or COPD. You’re not going to get the preferred premium that you would hope to,” he said, referring to Medicare supplement plans.

Optimism is the best medicine

Back in northwest Arkansas, Willson peers out the window, watching her daughter steering a riding lawn mower around her property. A groundhog stares back as she contemplates her future.

Amid the hardships of running the rental business and navigating her job search, she takes a breath. Her health seems stable for the moment, and she suspects there is light at the end of their driveway.

“Everyone thinks their situation is pretty bad, but I know there are people a lot worse than I am,” Willson said. “It’ll be OK.”

Of course, she yearns for the days of better health and financial security. She would like to have a full night’s sleep and wake up refreshed. She would like to have a more stable part-time job that gives her purpose. There’s only so much optimism someone like Willson can muster when missing a tax bill or credit card payment can have a domino effect.

But like many workers in their 80s and 90s, Willson has no desire to give up on decades of effort, even if it means being stubborn. She feels she’ll eventually find a way to make ends meet.

Willson walks cautiously down the steps to her small storage room, filled with boxes of old papers. She pulls out her mother’s Bible. In it are hundreds of annotations and notes mentioning Willson and her siblings. She flips through the pages, pauses to read her mother’s heavy cursive handwriting, then puts it back in the box. Memories from eight decades flow through her mind as she steps carefully back to her desk using a walker.

It’s moments like this, she says, that give her the will to do everything in her power to stay around a little longer.