Baby Boomers reshaping U.S. labor force

Posted on 16. Apr, 2005 posted by Bill in Employment News

Russ Creason, 84, goes to work every day because he loves it and cant imagine not working.

Ken Moberg, 61, retired after 30 years at one company and then created a thriving new business from a sidelight interest.

Donald Long, 78, and Evelyn Merchant, 67, are desperately hunting for jobs so they can pay their bills, which have mounted since they lost work.

For reasons self-fulfilling and financial, older workers are a fast-growing presence in the labor force.

Last year, there were more people 55 and older in the work force than at any time since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began publishing that kind of data in 1948.

Last year also marked the highest labor force participation rate 36 percent of 55-and-older workers since 1972.

And thats just the beginning of what is expected to be an older-worker onslaught that will reshape the face of working America.

The bureau projects that between 2002 and 2012, the annual growth rate of the 55-and-older group will be 4.1 percent or four times the annual growth rate for the overall labor force. By 2012, nearly one in five American workers will be 55 or older.

The statistics dont tell us if the older workers are being forced back or not retiring because of economics, because of health care costs or because they want to work, said Sylvia Allegretto, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. But the growth in their labor force participation rate stands out among all age cohorts.

Good health and longer life expectancies play the biggest role in extended work lives. But some retirees have returned to the work force because low interest rates slashed interest income from their certificates of deposit or their retirement savings plans collapsed.

Economists say most Americans have done a poor job of saving for retirement. Some studies show the typical household savings rate is about 1 percent of income. Thus, many retirees are finding they cant maintain their lifestyles on Social Security alone, especially if theyre saddled with high costs for prescription medicines and health care services.

AARP recently reported that 68 percent of workers between the ages of 50 and 70 plan to work in retirement or never retire.

But Ken Dychtwald, a gerontologist and founder of Age Wave, a think tank and consulting group focused on the aging population, said older workers are working more because they want to than because they have to.

He noted the longevity bonus was giving retirees an opportunity to remake their work lives after retiring.

He also predicted that as members of the 77 million-strong baby boom generation those born between 1946 and 1964 enter retirement, there were likely to be fewer escapes to lives of leisure in Sun Belt golf communities.

The boomer dream is to continue working, but without as much stress, Dychtwald said. They want a new blend of fun and satisfying work. They want to take a breath at the end of their first careers and reinvent themselves. The average retiree last year watched television 43 hours a week. Boomers say they will need more stimulation than that.

Executive recruiters say some employers are eager to embrace the accumulated wisdom and work ethic of older workers.

Thats not the case across the hiring landscape, though.

Heavy cost cutting by businesses since the 2001 recession caught many older workers in layoffs that fed a widespread impression of age discrimination.

Whether older workers were cut because they earned higher salaries and thus could create greater cost savings or their skills were outdated or they were outright victims of discrimination is being addressed in many individual and class action lawsuits.

But older workers dismissals havent reversed their desire or need to be in the work force.

The definition of retirement will continue to evolve.

Sue Willman, an employment law attorney at Spencer Fane, notes that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act made mandatory retirement ages unlawful in most instances.

Exceptions may be made in the case of such jobs as policing and firefighting, which have physical requirements, or for certain highly placed executives.

But, while the law said most workers cant be booted out the door when they reach a certain age, many workers have held to the notion of retiring at age 62, when they could begin to draw reduced Social Security benefits, or at age 65, when full Social Security benefits would kick in.

That is changing, though, as the age for full benefits creeps higher. For a boomer born in 1953, for example, the retirement age for full benefits will be 66.

Just as boomers aim to work longer, though, more are being offered voluntary early retirement packages by their employers.

EmploymentDigest.net

Baby Boomers reshaping U.S. labor force

Similar Posts:

Boomer Careers

Five Free eBooks (limited time offer)

Featured Video Interviews

Our Supporters

Archives

Claim your five free career ebooks as our gift to help in your career search. Insider information on Interviewing, Cover Letters, Strategy and Social Media plus Networking how to's from leading experts and coaches.
Name:
Email: