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All those people who have stopped thinking about retirement and shifted back into work mode might come in handy once the economy turns around.

It’s not much of a silver lining – more like a blend of silver lining and black humor – but these days we’ll take what we can get.

Not so long ago, Iowa was worried about a lack of people to fill jobs. Right now, we’re more concerned about losing jobs, but that will pass. We’ll eventually get back to the former problem, and that’s when we’ll be glad that people in their late 50s and early 60s are more interested in sticking around.

That’s because their retirement funds won’t come back overnight, no matter what the economy does.

Also, they’ll be spooked for a while, and determined to sock away money for the next crisis. If this thing can turn around in a reasonable amount of time, even another year, they won’t be scarred like the generation that slogged through the Great Depression, but they’ll definitely be chastened.

They won’t see retirement as a button that can be pushed any time work becomes a hassle.

Sun Life Financial Inc. polled American workers in December to update its Unretirement Index, and 54 percent of the respondents said they plan to delay retirement at least one year beyond the date they had planned, due to the current economic situation; 24 percent said they will have to work an extra five years or more.

Also, the survey found that the number of Americans who expect to work at least 20 hours a week after the age of 67 is largely unchanged, but it discovered a new motivation. Instead of manning a workstation “to stay mentally engaged,” more said they would keep working “to earn enough money to live well.”

One more possible benefit from all of this: People from the really hard-hit regions of the country just might deign to consider cold, remote Iowa as they look for work.

America’s challenge could be Iowa’s opportunity.