Amid the wreckage of the economic downturn, something curious happened to older Americans.

More of them are working.

The number of younger workers are declining, but workers age 55 and older are increasing.
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 Photocasting across America with Michael S. Williamson: A Washington Post photojournalist has spent the year traveling around the country, meeting people whose lives have been altered by the flattened economy.
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Though the recession has thinned the ranks of other generations in the workforce, more people older than 55 are employed than ever before, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The reasons for the surge of older workers are complex, experts said, but one of the primary economic forces behind it is the growing fear among older Americans that they lack the means to support their retirement needs.