WASHINGTON — The number of men still working after the retirement age of 65 rose slightly in 2000 from 1999, new Census Bureau estimates showed today.
The report showed that 19 percent of men 65 and older were still in the civilian labor force, compared with 16 percent in 1999. The figure for women of the same age remained static at 10 percent.
The figures were tabulated in only the second report the bureau has compiled on Americans ages 55 and older. The figures were based on survey data collected in March 2000 rather than the 2000 decennial census.
Census 2000 data released earlier this year showed the U.S. population continued to age, with the median age rising to 35.3, the highest ever, from 32.9 in 1990. That meant that half the population was younger and half older than 35.3.
That figure was weighted by the steady aging of the "baby boom" generation of people born just after the end of World War II until 1964, analysts said, with the 45- to 54-year-old age group growing the fastest of all categories at 49 percent.
While a Census Bureau demographer said it was difficult to pinpoint trends from just two years' worth of data, today's report showed little change in other areas such as poverty rates and marital status.
Of people 55 and over, 9.6 percent had incomes below the poverty line in 2000 compared with 11.8 percent for the nation as a whole. Women were more likely to be poor than men, however.
Women were also less likely to be married and living with their spouse than were men; of people 65 to 84, 45 percent of women and 74 percent of men were married and living with their spouse.