THE GRAY-COLLAR WORKFORCE: Many seniors are staying on the job or returning to the workforce, leaving less room for younger workers and reducing their purchasing power.

“One of the reasons is young people can’t find jobs because older people are not leaving the workforce,” said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at Cal State Channel Islands who has studied the issue. Discouraged, many younger workers are staying in school longer or sitting on the sidelines until their prospects improve.

That affects business at restaurants, furniture stores and electronics outlets. And it puts a squeeze on many local governments that rely on retail sales taxes for their revenue. . . . Pew surveys suggest that people 65 and older were the most likely to be bracing for a long recovery. That helps explain why so many older workers have put off retirement.

And many seniors, thanks to the recession, now see how shaky their 401(k) retirement plans are. Without the assurance of the old corporate pension plans, they don’t know exactly how far their retirement savings will stretch.

Well, yes. Many old people aren’t retiring because they can’t afford to due to the Obama Senior Squeeze.