Why ‘unretired’ seniors are picking up gig work to pay the bills

Before Stu Goldberg begins his night shift driving for Uber, he pulls out a notebook to read a handwritten list of reminders. "No tickets. Full stops," he'd scrawled in the book. "Careful backing up. Watch for pedestrians and bikes." With a PhD in neuropsychology and decades of experience running his own business, Goldberg, 74, didn't picture chauffeuring strangers around when he retired. But financially, things didn't go as planned. So, he makes the best of his situation, shuttling passengers through New York City at night. "I like the freedom. I like the flexibility. I like meeting people," Goldberg said. "I like that most of the time I can get, once or twice a day, a good conversation with somebody." Goldberg is one of a growing number of Americans who have "unretired" in recent years. After concluding decades-long careers at hospitals, universities, and corporations, they returned to the workforce due to insufficient retirement savings, rising living costs, and a desire to stay active. Some are finding gig work or contract jobs through apps or digital platforms. Delivering people and parcels, taking care of pets, or folding other people's laundry suits them because they can set their own hours and work, or not, when they choose. "We're living longer, so people are working longer because they have to fund those extra years," said Carly Roszkowski, vice president of financial resilience at the nonprofit organization American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). "And this concept of retirement for most people, as like a cliff or a day they're working towards, really isn't a reality for most." Goldberg wanted to teach after winding down his software and telemarketing company. But he needed to earn more money than what the occasional adjunct professor job teaching statistics would pay. "Uber came up, and it was not a bad choice for me because I was comfortable driving people," he said. "I felt it could be a good way to make money and keep most of it." About 1 in 5 Americans over age 50 who aren't retired say they have no retirement savings, according to a survey the AARP conducted in January 2025. This article was provided by The Associated Press.