There is a huge concern among employers today on labor shortage caused by millions of baby boomers retiring who prefers to stay employed. The idea of retirement had changed so much over the generations. How we look at retirement today may be so different from how our parents and grandparents view the issue. These changes could be due to longer life expectancies, higher quality of living, and opportunities for employment in our golden years. Today, retirement doesn’t have to mean spending days in the rocking chair or taking care of the grandkids.

Some people, however, some older folks work after retirement not for fulfillment or for fun, but because of financial necessity. They could be either be stuck in low-paying jobs during their younger days with little or no retirement plans. It could also be a result of poor financial planning or unfortunate financial hardships.

CNN Money reports on a survey done by the Employee Benefit Research Institute on March 2010 indicating that 43% of American workers have less than $10,000 in retirement saving. Others virtually have no savings at all. From the same report, the percentage of workers who said they have saved for retirement fell from 75% to 69% in 2009. Jack VanDerhei, the research director of EBRI’s survey body, said that the reason why many people are postponing their retirement age is because of the lack of preparation for retirement. People just don’t want to think about this during their twenties and even their thirties. Everybody thinks they’re too young to think about retirement, until suddenly they’re too old to do anything about it.

In a separate story from FOX News, a freelance writer shares his tale on how credit card debts ate his retirement away. He had lots of money in his twenties. But during that time, retirement seems like a million miles away for him. His golden years were spent paying off interest rates, loans, mortgages and even ended up raiding his 401(k). The recession kept him from rebuilding his credit and his finances in general until just recently.

Let us try to look at other signs to get a feel on where the trend would go:

In UK, a research conducted by Aviva (the country’s largest insurance services provider) on May 2010 stated that close to 70 per cent of UK adults intend to work beyond their retirement date. Self-employment is seen as the top employment option in retirement and one in 10 adults believe they will never stop working, Same report reveals that while a third (31 per cent) of people would like to retire between the ages of 61 and 65, nearly as many (29 per cent) see themselves giving up work between 66 and 70, and that one in eight (12 per cent) plan to work beyond the age of 70. The typical age of intended retirement for all adults questioned by the provider was 66-years-old.

For Clive Bolton, retirement director for Aviva Life, “Government proposals mean that the state retirement age is set to increase over the next few years, but it appears that many UK adults already see themselves working well past the traditional retirement age.” Indeed, self-employment (61 per cent) was seen as the top employment option in retirement for the over 55s followed by retail work (44 per cent) and leisure/hospitality work (27 per cent).

In Australia, federal treasurer and North Sydney Liberal MP Joe Hockey insists that people should be given an incentive to work beyond the retirement age of 65 and mums needed to get back into workforce to increase productivity, insisting that working life does not end at 65.

Mr Hockey said that the Liberal Party would announce a “financially modest’’ incentive for people to keep working past retirement age for them to stay connected with work even if it is not at the pace that they have kept for 40 or 50 years.

In Bulgaria, a study unveiled by Labour and Social Policy Minister Totyu Mladenov on July 13 2010 claims that around 37 per cent of Bulgarians who are approaching retirement age, or have reached it, say that they would like to continue working. According to Mladenov, “Retirement is a right, it’s not an obligation. People should not be forced to leave their jobs just because they have reached retirement age.”

On July 1, 2010, it was announced that Bulgaria’s retirement age will probably be revised upwards by three more years from July 1 2011. That is, if proposals announced by Mladenov are approved.

Looks like working after retirement is becoming more and more popular these days, regardless the reason why they want to stay employed. I know the thought of retirement would freak anybody out. But just think of it for just one sec. Even if you have stashed away tons of cash, would you still work? Or how do you plan to spend your retirement years?