In my case (early 50's), I've been living off savings for over two years.
My neighbor on one side (also mid-50's) took the option of an early pension from a local government department a few years ago. The neighbor on the other side (mid-50's) is collecting disability.
My brother coasted on unemployment for awhile until he and his wife could collect social security. Technically, he was looking for work while collecting unemployment, but he was effectively making sure he wasn't going to get hired for a job. He was fascinated that they kept extending the unemployment benefits every time just when they were going to run out, so he was collecting unemployment and social security at the same time.
My son makes a few bucks buying and selling stocks.
One woman I worked with took over taking care of her grandchildren after she was laid off. Some of the others that I worked with are collecting unemployment and not looking too hard for work.
Not sure what the story is on all the other people I'm seeing that aren't going in to a job every day, but I'm observing that there are a bunch of us. A lot of people have gone from being two-income families to living off one income. One thing you find is that you don't need as much money if you aren't working just to buy a bigger pile of STUFF.
Wouldn’t it be cool if our society went back to a less materialistic mentality.