Regular readers are well aware that residents are rushing out of California in droves for many reason, least of which is the high cost of living. For those older California residents that choose to stay however because they simply can't uproot their lives and start "fresh" somewhere else, the reality is even more gruesome as they have no choice but to continue working into their retirement years. More than 740,000 Californians between the ages 65 and 74 are still employed or looking for work the Sacramento Bee reports, and the reasons are largely attributable to money.

As the Sacramento Bee reports, more than 740,000 California residents between ages 65 and 74 are employed or looking for work, roughly double the number from 15 years ago, according to a Sacramento Bee review of the latest census data.

Much of that growth reflects a swell of baby boomers entering retirement age. But the proportion of California seniors between ages 65 and 74 still working or looking for work also has risen, going from 20 percent in 2000 to 26 percent in 2014. Californians are working longer for a number of reasons. Some do not have enough money to retire or are among a growing number of seniors living in poverty. Others are waiting to collect their full allotment of Social Security payments as the federal retirement age gradually rises from 65 to 67. Many are simply in good health and want to keep working as life spans increase.

The percent of Californians ages 65-69 who are still working or looking for work has increased dramatically since 1990, and still remains well over 30%. The percent of residents between 70-74 who are still working or looking for work has trended up since 1990 as well, although much more gradually, and remains just under 20%.

Not surprisingly, seniors in the Bay Area (due to the tech bubble that we have covered extensively) and Los Angeles metro area are most likely to work past 65.

Perhaps the most interesting thing from the Bee's report is that the jobs that seniors are holding are traditionally higher paying, which implies the cost of living is so horrendous in California that literally everyone is struggling to make ends meet, let alone get ahead in order to retire.

However, older workers are still performing jobs that younger workers are more likely to perform, which again is a red flag that older workers are doing anything they can in order to continue to earn money in what is considered retirement age. It is notable that these types of jobs are lower paying jobs, which one can infer the severity of older workers needs to make ends meet.

The fiscal situation for these seniors is about to get much, much worse. With Governor Brown signing the new minimum wage bill, that even he admitted makes no sense economically, one can rest assured that those increased labor costs will indeed be passed on to Californians in one form or another. Also, don't forget that tax increases are looming for the the Golden State. Recall that Cali had missed projected tax revenues by nearly $1 billion through the first four months of the year - those revenues will have to be replaced somehow, and with residents leaving in droves, those that remain will have to shoulder the burden.

That said, at least the above example provides a vivid demonstration why the US labor participation rate is crashing as more and more younger workers are unable to develop work careers as increasingly more aged workers remain stuck in their positions thus bottlenecking the natural pipeline of US jobs, and forcing millions of younger Americans, for whose meager skills there is no demand, to stay in school.

Meanwhile, the number of American workers aged 55 and older enjoying Obama's "recovery" have never been greater...