We’ll take all the hopeful economic signs we can get these days. So here’s one for the prospective retirees out there.

Twelve percent of employers say they’re likely to provide incentives in 2009 for workers at or near retirement age to stay with their company longer. Another 17 percent say they’re likely to rehire retirees from other companies. This comes from a recent survey by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder.com.

While those numbers could certainly be larger, they’re a positive sign that (a.) not all employers have lost their minds and (b.) people who want or need to stay in the workforce longer may have an opportunity to. As we noted even before the unfortunate events of 2008, working longer has financial advantages worth weighing before you turn in your employee i.d. and skip out the door. —Greg Daugherty

Greg writes the “Retirement Guy” column each month in the Consumer Reports Money Adviser newsletter.