Retire at 65? Theyd sooner die.

Thousands of New Yorkers are working decades past Social Security eligibility, into their 80s and even their 90s, keeping their minds sharp and their bodies moving.

A bookkeeper who commutes four hours a day into Manhattan, a grandma who keeps pace with diplomats at the United Nations, an octogenarian who runs around after 7-year-olds all day.

They represent the new longevity awesome over 80 living healthier and working longer than their peers of previous generations.

While people older than 75 make up just 1% of the nations workforce, that age group accounts for the most dramatic rise in employment a 158% uptick since 1990, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.

Of 11.6 million people older than 75 in 1990, about 4% or 487,000 were employed. By 2011, there were nearly 18 million people older than 75, and 7%, or 1.2 million superseniors, were working.

In New York, there are more than 9,000 people older than 80 on the job, a slight increase from 20 years earlier. And 734 of them were 90 or older, census data show.

When you look at the past two decades, there has been a change in the paradigm of retirement, said AARPs New York spokesman Luci DeHaan.

It was assumed people would retire at 65, move to another climate, take a step back and enjoy their life. What you are seeing now is people living healthy longer and choosing to stay in their communities and work. They want to stay involved.

Nir Barzilai, a geneticist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx who studies centenarians and their children, has found longevity genes in people with at least one parent or sibling who have lived past 80.

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In NYC, 80 is the new 50