Michael McCormick, a former pressman, is in his third year as a paid trail monitor for Cleveland’s park district.

Just how big is the encore opportunity?

The Urban Institute has performed a valuable service in estimating the size of the older adult population that is able and willing to take up paid or unpaid encore careers, yet for various reasons remain on the sidelines.

Their answer: Approximately 10.3 million adults over 55 who are both healthy and have no caregiving responsibilities.

“Investments in training older adults for new work and volunteer opportunities will have large personal, community and national economic rewards,” conclude Sheila Zedlewski and Barbara Butrica of the institute’s Income and Benefits policy center.

Longer working lives increase retirement income and tax revenue and reduce Social Security payouts, the researchers say, while volunteerism imrpoves physical and mental health (reducing health care costs) and provides benefits to those receiving services.

Of those 10 million healthy older adults now on the sidelines, as many as 3.6 million are low-income, who could “especially benefit from the additional dividend of extra income from paid work,” they say.

Over half of the 10 million are under age 75, and one in three have more than a high school education. More than 9 out of 10 have worked before and many have skills that are needed in nonprofit agencies and service occupations, the researchers say.

“Particularly needed is more funding for training programs that target low-income older adults and broader communication networks that connect older adults to available volunteer and work opportunities,” the report concludes. “Public-sponsored outreach to older adults on the advantages of engagement while receiving Social Security benefits is also needed.”