More than one retiree in eight is working or looking for work right now.

Almost that many were in the job market before the economy tanked, the Pew Research Center reported in 2006. Since then, the recession that economists hope is ending soon has sucked $2.4 trillion—that's trillion with a T—out of our retirement plans and pension accounts since the market peaked in October 2007, according to Boston University's Center for Retirement Research. Another $3.3 trillion of other household savings, home equity, and other non-pension assets are gone, too.

Stretching what's left of your savings is also more difficult. Not that long ago, when the economy was humming and inflation was rising near a longtime average 3 percent, conservative investors could turn each $100,000 in their nest egg into a $492/month lifetime income in the annuities market. Now the government is pushing rope to get things started, interest rates and inflation are running at half those earlier levels, and potential monthly income drops almost $80, to $413.

So, for more of us, the workforce beckons. Before the recession, just less than one-third of the 62-year-olds surveyed by Golden Gate Financial, a San Francisco financial services firm, said they planned to work past age 70. This winter that total jumped to almost half. Sixty-somethings, 70-somethings, and even 80-year-olds are among the fastest-growing age groups for workers, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.

Meantime, most new or returning workers who are 62 or older have one potential source of supplemental money on which to draw—the Social Security system, which covers about 96 percent of the U.S. workforce. Average benefit checks run about $1,067 a month across the United States, although individual benefits vary widely, depending on your earnings history and when you apply for benefits.

Juggling Social Security benefits and a full- or part-time paycheck can be challenging for workers between age 62 (the earliest anyone can receive retirement benefits) and full retirement age, which currently is 66 for anyone born between 1943 and 1954. The full retirement age increases to 66 years and two months for anyone born in 1956, and two more months each year after that, until it reaches 67 for those born in 1960.

Applying for Social Security benefits early will reduce your monthly benefits check. Sixty-two-year-olds who apply now will get a smaller check (about $800 smaller, based on the current national average) than if they wait another four years to full retirement age.

Also, that benefit may be reduced if you earn more than $14,160 a year working while on Social Security. Investment income or pension checks, if you get them, don't count against that total, but each $2 of work income you earn over that limit will reduce the benefit by $1. This continues until the year you reach full retirement age, when the limit changes and the reduction becomes $1 of every $3 you earn if you earn more than $37,680 before the month in which you reach full retirement age.

You might not lose those $1 reductions entirely, however. Once you reach full retirement age, Social Security will recalculate your benefits and give you credit for the money it kept as well as what you earned working. You probably still will not get as large a check as you would if you waited to full retirement age to apply, however. Also, you may owe taxes on half your Social Security benefits if you have other income greater than $25,000 for single taxpayers or $32,000 for married joint filers. Eight-five percent of the benefits are taxed if you are a single filer with more than $34,000 of other income or a married joint filer with more than $44,000 of other income.

You may want to talk with a tax professional or financial adviser about your situation, because the income that counts for tax calculation includes taxable pension income and other money that doesn't count toward reducing a benefit check or not.

For more information
Contact the Social Security Administration online at www.ssa.gov or call 800-772-1213. The Web site offers tools, calculators, and other help for weighing your choices. The toll-free phone number can help you find the nearest office if you want to talk with someone there.

The national Financial Planning Association offers tools, tips, and Social Security planning ideas at www.fpaforfinancialplanning.org.

AARP addresses Social Security and other retirement-related issues in the Money and Work sections of its Web site, www.aarp.org.