RJ and Makay

Middle-Income Boomers, a new study by Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center for a Secure Retirement (CSR), found that 73% of middle-income baby boomers are rethinking retirement, and that 79% are delaying their retirement by an average of five years.

The study examined 500 Americans, age 47 to 65, with incomes between $25,000 and $75,000.  One in seven respondents (14%) believe that the turbulent economy will prevent them from ever retiring.

March was a solid month for the jobs market, with private U.S. employers adding 201,000 jobs, reports ADP Employer Services. The ADP report, created jointly with Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, is in line with what economists expect to hear Friday from the government in its more comprehensive public and private sector employment report.

"While a touch softer than February's, this is a strong report that indicates continued momentum in the pace of labor market recovery," says Barclays Capital, noting it still expects the government's report on Friday to show 175,000 new jobs in March. In a new Reuters poll of economists, median forecasts call for increases in nonfarm and private payrolls of 190,000 and 200,000, respectively.

With the overall unemployment rate now officially down to 8.9%, financial professionals may be wondering how the employment situation in their industry compares. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, things are better than average in the financial industry and continuing to gradually improve.

Indeed, BLS data for the "financial activities supersector," which consists of the Finance and Insurance sector and the Real Estate, Rental, and Leasing sector, show that joblessness in the supersector fell from 7.2% in January to 6.9% in February. As a whole, the supersector now has 7,608,000 employees, up from 7,605,000 in January.