A damning portrait of the dire realities of retirement in the United States—and how we can fix it.

While the French went on strike in 2023 to protest the increase in the national retirement age, workers in the United States have all but given up on the notion of dignified retirement for all. Instead, Americans—whose elders face the highest risk of poverty compared to workers in peer nations—are fed feel-good stories about Walmart clerks who can finally retire because a customer raised the necessary funds through a GoFundMe campaign.

Many argue that the solution to the financial straits of American retirement is simple: people need to just work longer. Yet this call to work longer is misleading in a multitude of ways, including its endangering of the health of workers and its discrimination against people who work in lower-wage occupations. In Work, Retire, Repeat, Teresa Ghilarducci tells the stories of elders locked into jobs—not because they love to work but because they must.

But this doesn’t need to be the reality. Work, Retire, Repeat shows how relatively low-cost changes to how we finance and manage retirement will allow people to truly choose how they spend their golden years.

"Ghilarducci presents a grim view of the current ominous realities of retirement in the United States and offers recommendations for improvement. . . She shares true stories of people locked into jobs not because they love to work but because they must, and her meticulous research analyzes how working longer does little to improve retirement security and inadequate pensions. . . This highly recommended book focuses on middle- and lower-income people who do not have millions in their retirement accounts and who are particularly concerned about the retirement possibilities that their children and grandchildren will have." - Library Journal (starred review)

"Ghilarducci argues convincingly that how long people need to work is more about who has power in society than anything else." - The New York Times

"[Work, Retire, Repeat] examines the wide array of realities older adults face as they retire or find themselves working later in life. It’s a meaningful, engaging, and accessible book that deals with subject matter that will only increase in importance. . . . Written with passion, precision and prescription." - Generations Now

"Named one of the Best Summer Books of 2024. "A powerful rejoinder to the view that, in an aging society, people must work longer and retire later."" - The Financial Times

"Work, Retire, Repeat makes valuable points in assessing attempts to push back retirement for all Americans." - City Journal

"America's retirement system is failing too many people. . . .Economist Teresa Ghilarducci, in her new (highly recommended) book discusses reform proposals, including several she co-authored. . .It's high time for at least one of these well-designed and affordable ideas to become law. . . .Ghilarducci offers a potential blueprint for action for policymakers and citizens." - Star Tribune

"[Work, Retire, Repeat] is a wake-up call to academics and policymakers to take the well-being of low-income older workers seriously and a provocative starting point for what better policy toward senior citizens might entail." - Journal of Economic Literature

"The book is for the growing number of people in the public and policy community who are worried about their retirement and engaged in the renewed debate about Social Security and Medicare." - New Books Network

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“Through a well-structured narrative combined with a thorough analysis of empirical studies, Ghilarducci makes a compelling case for why retirement policies need to be reformed. . . Work, Retire, Repeat is thought-provoking.”