Seniors may also want to consider looking for work in locales with major healthcare facilities. The giant Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for example, employs 32,348 people directly, and other sectors of the local economy are also stimulated when patients come to the area with their family members for medical treatment. Approximately 3.5 million job opportunities appropriate for older workers with healthcare and social assistance backgrounds are expected to be created between now and 2018, according to a recent Northeastern University analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau data. Registered nurses, home health aides, and medical assistants are expected to be among the fastest-growing jobs.
[Check out these 30 Fast-Growing Careers for Older Workers.]
Former banker Cody Buck, 58, and his wife, Starr Buck, 53, a former small-business owner, had no problem landing jobs as registered nurses in Lubbock, Texas, when they both graduated from nursing school in December 2009. Covenant Health System, the second-largest employer in Lubbock after Texas Tech University, recruited the couple before they even graduated. "I think there's always going to be a job open for a good nurse," says Buck, who now works three 12-hour shifts a week. He makes less money than he did as a banker but enjoys the work more. "I am moving to a stage in life where I am looking for some type of reward other than just financial," he says. "I think as people age, everybody has some kind of additional need to make some kind of contribution, some kind of personal fulfillment." When you can combine a paycheck and a calling, delaying retirement doesn't sound so bad.
Check out these 10 great places to launch a second career in retirement:
- Ames, Iowa
- Harrisonburg, Va.
- Lincoln, Neb.
- Lubbock, Texas
- Madison, Wis.
- Manhattan, Kan.
- Oklahoma City, Okla.
- Richland, Wash.
- Rochester, Minn.
- State College, Pa.
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