Many seniors have been coming out of retirement to patrol the pools this summer.
The "Baywatch" image of chiseled lifeguards is changing, thanks to folks in their golden years.
Bob McIntosh, 71, is one of the many elderly Americans who are coming out of retirement to fill empty lifeguard chairs.
“I had no difficulty finding a job, even though I had been away from it for 50 years,” the New Jersey native told Inside Edition.
He worked as a lifeguard in college and for many decades he had a successful career with the U.S. State Department.
He retired 14 years ago, but was interested in finding part-time work. That's when he came upon an opportunity at the Summit Family Aquatic Center in New Jersey — and got the job!
“He's a reliable, serious, professional lifeguard and he's here all summer, he doesn't go back to school. He's here right through Labor Day," said Judith Josephs, who hired McIntosh.
He may a little older than his co-workers, but McIntosh hasn't let something like age stop him.
“I think it's a shock for anyone that someone in their 70s can still do a job like a lifeguard," a 16-year-old lifeguard named Zach Russo told Inside Edition.
A growing number of vacancies in summer jobs normally occupied by teens have been reported in recent years, as only 34.8 percent of teens are entering the summer workforce, 50 percent less than in the 1990s, according to CBS News.
"Brick-and-mortar retail locations tended to hire a lot of teenagers during the summer," Andy Challenger, vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a career transitioning firm, told CBS News. "While those jobs are disappearing, teenagers are having to find different areas of the economy to pick up the slack and get those summer jobs."
RELATED STORIES
