There's certainly no shortage of advice on managing millennials in the workforce. But when it comes to sheer numbers, baby boomers remain the dominant generation, thanks in large part to that generation's working women.
The Employee Benefit Research Institute has further quantified boomers' role in the workforce by crunching data found in the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey. EBRI's report, "Labor-force Participation Rates of the Population Ages 55 and Older, 2013," reveals that more than 40 percent of today's workers are age 55 or older. Additionally, participation has been increasing among the oldest age groups — those 60-64 and 65 and older.
The study found that the participation by those 55 and older steadily fell from 1975 to 1993, bottoming out at 29.4 percent. Then, the trend reversed. The current peak participation by this age group occurred in 2012, when 40.5 percent of all workers were 55 or older. That percent dropped to 40.3 percent last year.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
