HR: Will the Baby Boomers Ever Retire?
Earlier this decade, there was great concern that the baby boomer's mass exodus to retirement would create a severe national labor shortage. The latest statistics from the US Bureau of Labor show that this is no longer of immediate concern. Those born between 1946 & 1964 are expected to remain in the labor force much longer than previous generations.
Previous generation's retirements were much more predictable and some would say - stable. The average worker was employed by 1-2 company's their entire career and lived in 1-2 houses their entire life. By age 55-64 they had paid off their mortgage, retired and began collecting their pension. Times have certainly changed!
Statistics show that the number of people aged 55 to 64 is expected to grow by 33 % in the next 10 years and the number of people aged 65 and older by 78%. Shrinking retirement savings, financial needs and longer life spans are all explanations of why the baby boom generation will remain in the workforce longer and the definition of retirement will never be the same.
Projections are that the future workforce of people aged 65 & older is expected to grow 10 times faster than the total labor force- significantly changing the demographics. How employers prepare for and respond to this change may have a lot to do with their future success. Organizations must be willing to make investments in training and other benefit options.
A workforce composed of older workers will have much different benefit needs. Long term care insurance and adequate health care coverage- that includes vision, hearing loss and arthritis are just a few examples of possible future needs. Legislatively, changes must be made to allow older workers to continue to or return to work without penalties (IRS).
Eventually though, the abundance of older worker talent and experience is going to dry up and businesses will need to fill hundreds, if not thousands of jobs. Hopefully businesses will be proactive and smart enough to think about the future and how best to pass this knowledge and information on to prepare Generation's X & Y & Z(?) to take over and perform these tasks!