Mature Worker Facts

Operation A.B.L.E. of Greater Boston Mature Worker Facts & Quotes

The impending increase in the number of individuals expected to hit retirement age over the next 20 years is being documented continually in the press and by organizations and researchers nationwide.  The following observations highlight the impact that the Baby Boomer retirement era will have on employers and the opportunities that the demographic shift will provide for older individuals expecting to stay on the job past the age of 65.
 

A Generation In Transition: A Survey of Bay State Baby Boomers
MassINC
November 2005
"Bay State boomers expect to reverse the trend toward earlier withdrawal from the labor force, by delaying their retirement and continuing to work at least part-time even after they retire.  Nearly half (49%) say they plan to retire at or after 65 or that they never plan to retire, and two-thirds (65%) expect to work during their golden years.  Moreover, the change in the views of retirement seems to be rippling through the generation, with younger boomers expecting to retire later and planning to work after retiring in greater numbers.”

Retirement Boomers
Jacquelyn James, The Boston Globe
December 28, 2005
“In 2006, the front row of the much-heralded baby boom generation turns 60, ringing in as they do the transition to the “Third Age.”……But, with added years of vitality and health and less financial security, will this generation of baby boomers be eager to sit back and relax? In 1933 when Social Security laws were enacted, people lived an average of 3 years after age 65; today, retirees can expect to live to be 85, even longer for women. At age 65 today, quality of life is generally good. Fully two-thirds of the population report being in good health at age 79. . . . . Our institutions need to get ready (for boomers who want to keep working). Just as schools were built in the 1950s, we need businesses that can accommodate the needs of older employees who want to continue to work.

They (institutions) need to explore flexible work options regarding schedule, hours, location, and the type of work performed. We and they need to think differently if older workers are to be retained. With a predicted labor shortage in the next 20 years, businesses are going to need their manpower and expertise.

U.S. Census Bureau
April 25, 2005
36.3 million: The number of people 65 and over in the United States on July 1, 2004.  This age group accounts for 12 percent of the total population.  Between 2003 and 2004, 351,000 people moved into this age group.  4.6 million: Number of people age 65 and over who are still employed – this amounts to 13 percent of all people in this age group.  $23,787: Median 2003 income of households with householders 65 and over, statistically unchanged, in real terms, from the previous year.  10.2 percent: Poverty rate for people 65 and over in 2003.

Wanted: Retirees to Work
Carolyn Said, San Francisco Chronicle
April 29, 2005
“Odd as it sounds in this era of downsizing and outsourcing, workforce experts say that companies and government agencies soon will have to encourage older employees to work longer because there aren’t enough experienced younger people to replace them.  Labor force growth, a major driver of economic growth, is projected to slow from 1.6 percent today to o.3 percent by 2020, according to Social Security Administration projections…..The lucky synchronicity is that Boomers are expected to want to work in retirement – both because they’re a generation of notoriously poor savers and because, with longer life expectancies, elders are likely to still crave challenges and stimulation.  Surveys by AARP have shown that 80 percent of Boomers expect to work in retirement, a dramatic shift from the 13 percent of people over 65 currently in the workforce.”

Aging To Take Toll On State Workforces
Stateline.org
April 1, 2005 
“More than 25 states will experience employee turnover in the next decade and beyond as aging public servants retire…. Sixty-four percent of Washington’s workforce is eligible to retire between now and 2015.  The figure for Maine is 59 percent, for Tennessee 58 percent, for Michigan 56 percent and for Pennsylvania 54 percent….According to the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, 43.6 percent of state workforces collectively are comprised of individuals age 45 and older.”

How to Battle the Coming Brain Drain
Anne Fisher, Fortune Magazine
March 21, 2005
“By 2010 more than half of all workers in the U.S. will be over 40. Tens of millions of Baby Boomers turn 60 this year, and the decade ahead will see vast numbers of people retiring, or at least leaving their current full-time careers…. According to David W. DeLong,….research fellow and head of the workforce unit at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Age Lab…companies most at risk from the coming brain drain are those ‘with established, traditional cultures where people have spent 20 years or more.  Many of these companies have downsized and cut out the middle, so you now have these bifurcated organizations: old white guys nearing retirement, a lot of people in their 20s and 30s, and not enough people in between.’”

Retirement Turns Into a Rest Stop as Benefits Dwindle
New York Times
February 9, 2005
“As numerous companies across the country withdraw retiree medical and dental benefits while others switch to less generous retirement plans, many aging workers who had expected to ease comfortably out of the labor force in their 50’s and early 60’s are discovering that they do not have the financial resources to support themselves in retirement.  As a result, a lot more of them are returning to work.

Since the mid-1990’s, older people have become the fastest-growing portion of the workforce.  The Labor Department projects that workers over 55 will make up 19.1 percent of the labor force by 2012, up form 14.3 percent in 2002.”

Staying Ahead of the Curve 2004:
Employer Best Practices for Mature Workers
Executive Summary
American Association of Retired Persons, 2004
“A major shift is taking place in the U.S. workforce. It is aging rapidly.  In 2002, 14% of the workforce was aged 55 or older.  By 2012, 19% of workers will be at least 55, an increase of more than 10 million workers in that age group.  The number could be substantially higher if anticipated labor shortages materialize, employers implement strategies to attract and retain older workers, and/or if many of the boomers who say they expect to work in retirement actually do.”

It’s Time To Retire Retirement
Harvard Business Review
March 2004

 “In the past few years, companies have been so focused on downsizing to contain costs that they’ve largely neglected a looming threat to their competitiveness, the likes of which they have never before experienced: a severe shortage of talented workers….While the ranks of the  youngest workers (ages 16 to 24, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics groupings) are growing 15% this decade as baby boomers’ children enter the workforce, the 25- to 34-year-old segment is growing at just half that rate, and the workforce population between the ages of 35 and 44 – development years – is actually declining.”