Older Americans who need to unretire are starting businesses, earning $15 an hour, or struggling to find anything at all

Sharon Tagle thought her finances were in order when she retired seven years ago. However, she recently returned to work.

In December, the 68-year-old got a job at Home Depot as a cashier working 20 hours a week. She said her concerns about inflation and a failed home sale influenced her decision. She earns $15 hourly and expects to work for the next few months, longer if her financial conditions remain tight.

"I'm sorry that I left my job as soon as I did, but things were getting to me, and I just didn't want to work anymore," Tagle, who lives in Tampa, Florida, said. "I was not as frugal as I could have been. We're still having a good time, just not having it as much."

She retired from her role as a personal injury claims adjuster from an insurance company with about $250,000 in savings. She and her husband receive about $3,400 monthly in combined Social Security. The couple hoped to sell their home in Florida two years ago and move to a state with a lower cost of living, but they couldn't secure a buyer.

Tagle is one of dozens of older Americans who told Business Insider recently that they're either holding on to their jobs or unretiring because of economic uncertainty and pessimism about their financial futures. Those who are unretiring said they're nervous about the fate of Social Security, Medicaid, and other government benefits amid federal budget cuts. Others fear how their retirement savings and investments will fare as tariff policies continue to roil the stock market. This story is part of a series on older workers.

To be sure, returning to work is often out of the question for many older Americans. Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, a research fellow at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, said many older Americans couldn't return to work or had limited options because they worked physical jobs that they're no longer capable of doing. These workers often lacked employer-based retirement systems like 401(k)s, which hurt their retirement plans.

Uncertainty about Social Security and Medicaid has fueled some fears

Earlier in April, House Republicans voted to pass a GOP budget plan that included $880 billion in cuts for the House Energy and Commerce Committee over the next decade, whose main programs are Medicaid and Medicare. As part of reconciliation, GOP lawmakers are set to add details to the proposal, such as whether federal Medicaid funding would be reduced and by how much.

Trump has said that he will not cut Social Security benefits or touch Medicare. But the Social Security Administration has outlined plans to cut as many as 7,000 employees, which could increase wait times for recipients seeking assistance. Former SSA Commissioner Martin O'Malley, along with staff inside the agency, told BI that disruptions could lead to interrupted benefits.

While investors and economists have grown more concerned about a recession this year, they remain divided on whether it will happen. That hasn't eased some older Americans' fears, prompting some to reenter the workforce.

But for many older Americans, finding the perfect job may be out of the question. Amanda Clayman, a financial therapist, said many older job seekers have to deal with rejections from employers due to factors including ageism. She said people should be open to a wide variety of jobs, as any boost to their finances could be worthwhile.

"The goal may no longer be finding the right job or what the right job might be," Clayman said, adding older Americans should consider taking temporary or part-time positions even if they're not desirable.

Some are unretiring to start businesses

Diann Witherspoon, 72, said recent financial insecurities had pushed her to prepare to restart her fiber art and quilting business.

Witherspoon, who lives in Ohio, said she's always lived paycheck to paycheck, raising two special needs children and "working myself to death" to provide for them. She held accounting and property management jobs while sewing on the side. After back and knee surgeries, Witherspoon said there weren't many jobs she could do now.

She was laid off in 2017 the day she returned to her office after surgery, and her husband died of lung cancer a few years later. She shuttered her quilting company in December 2022 after a period of grief and had more back surgeries a year later.

She lives off half her husband's retirement income, which is $467 monthly, and $2,137 in monthly Social Security. It's enough to cover her $1,700 monthly house payment but not enough to have much left after other expenses. Her son, who lives with her, helps pay the bills.

Witherspoon said she's working to make new patterns to sell online and start teaching. She hopes to sell a few pieces a month and earn between $2,000 and $5,000, but she doesn't want to scale so large that she'll need employees.

"I just want to be able to sustain it myself so that we can survive, and I'd like to get something going so it just keeps producing income," Witherspoon said. "For the first time in 72 years living in this country, I am afraid."

Some retirees are struggling to find work

Moira MacLean, 69, retired as a social assistance case manager 2 ½ years ago, though she knew she would have to return to work at some point. The former lawyer, who lives in a community for older folks, left her position when she feared her company wouldn't let her work part time because she was fatigued.

MacLean, who lives in Washington, was getting by with savings and her $2,280 monthly Social Security payments, but with her money dwindling, she put herself back on the job market over the past few months in search of a similar role. She hasn't had luck yet, and she feels her age and time away from the office haven't helped her applications.

She also tried starting a third-party seller business for household products on Amazon, which put her into debt as the business didn't take off.

"There is zero room for investing anything differently than I already have," MacLean said of her long-term planning. "I live too close to the edge to do anything about that."

Pam Hovland, 70, is also struggling to find work and fears a recession would make it even more difficult.

"It scares me to death," Hovland said of the prospect of an economic downturn. "So I'd like to try to get a job before it all takes effect."

Hovland, who also lives in Washington, worked as a medical transcriber until around 2005 when a health issue put her in a coma for three months and forced her into retirement. She relied on disability income until around 2020, when her benefits converted to Social Security income — she said she gets a check for $1,099 monthly.

But by 2022, Hovland began struggling to pay the bills and, at times, afford birthday cards for her grandchildren. While she was able to reduce her rent through a Department of Housing and Urban Development program, she's still searching for customer service or fast food roles.

"I desperately need to get back to work," she said, "but because I didn't build up enough money when I became disabled, I'm very much scraping by."