Retiring in America increasingly means working into old age, new book finds

Retirement in America increasingly means working into old age, with most senior unable to support themselves on Social Security and savings alone, according to noted retirement expert Teresa Ghilarducci.

The reason: The nation's retirement system has left behind the bottom 90% of workers, Ghilarducci told CBS MoneyWatch in discussing her new book, "Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy." Ghilarducci, a labor economist and a professor at The New School for Social Research in New York, also said the nation needs a "bold plan," which she calls the "Gray New Deal" after the Depression-era New Deal, to shore up retirement for millions of Americans.

Ghilarducci's research shows that only 10% of Americans between the ages of 62 and 70 are both retired and financially stable. The majority of older Americans are either retired, but living below the standard of living they enjoyed while working, or still working because they can't afford to stop, she found in analyzing data from the University of Michigan's Health and Retirement Survey.