Of approximately 1400 participants in a job program for older workers, 200 were randomly sampled to investigate the following: (1) Does work have substantial meanings other than economic for this population? (2) What are these meanings and their relative importance in keeping the worker in the labor force? (3) Is there a relationship between the workers' characteristics and the meaning work holds for them? The workers were employed through a grant given to the New York City Department for the Aging in 1975 to employ persons aged 55 or over. A high percentage of the respondents found work to have meanings that were not economic. The most frequently mentioned reasons for continuing to work were the desire to remain active and engaged, money, desire for meaningful life experience, and socialization. The major demographic variables were unrelated to these meanings of work. Persons who sought meaningful life experiences from work tended to be of higher social class, consider their health good, and live with a spouse. Persons who gave money as a reason for working were more likely to view their incomes as inadequate although they were more likely to be of higher social class background. Activity as a meaning of work was equally important to all subgroups of workers, having no relationships with any of the worker characteristics. These findings suggest that despite indications of a decline in the work ethic there is a population of older persons who highly value the engagement of time and energy demanded by work. (Author/MFD)