And according to a Workforce report, the need on both sides of the employment equation is so great that now there are recruiters specializing in finding older workers—even into work-at-home jobs, such as Work at Home Vintage Experts, or WAHVE.

CNBC says that just 20 years ago, "less than a third of people ages 55 and over were employed or looking for work."

But St. Louis Federal Reserve figures indicate that at present 40 percent of older people are jobhunting or still working, up 10 percent from 1990. "There are a lot of those ages 55 to 70, and each of them is more likely to work now than in previous generations," Matt Rutledge, a research economist for The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, is quoted saying in the report.

Rutledge adds that lots of boomers, who not only feel they don't have enough retirement savings, are also facing longer life expectancy. Between the two, older people are either reentering or staying in the job market. And those low retirement savings are due to "a dwindling number of companies providing defined benefits, says the report. It cites Amanda Sonnega, an associate research scientist with the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, as pointing out that lack of pensions as driving older workers to postpone retirement.

Rutledge also says boomers are better educated, and better-educated workers tend to stay in the workforce longer because they usually enjoy their jobs.

Companies that have bought into the hiring of older workers are not only a vast relief to employees afraid that their retirement savings won't last, but they're also actually wooing older workers, with their own recruitment programs.

Among them are Tufts Health Plan, which offers a 401(k) program that includes a supplemental match of 3 percent each year on top of the standard 4 percent match for employees contributing 6 percent or more of their income. Individuals ages 50 and over make up 34 percent of the company's workforce.

Goldman Sachs runs a Returnship program that provides a 10-week training and mentoring program for those who have taken a career break of more than two years, equipping employees with skills to reenter the workplace.

And at FCCI, a Sarasota, Florida-based company that provides commercial property and casualty insurance through independent agents, 34 percent of the workforce is age 50 and older. FCCI pays 80 percent of all employees' health insurance and 100 percent of short- and long-term disability, in addition to offering its 825 workers technology coaching and hosting sessions on such issues as caregiving for aging parents, Social Security 101 and retirement planning.