The report, "Ohio's Aging Workforce: Opportunities and Challenges for
Ohio's Employers," stresses that the first wave of America's baby boomers
has already reached the front end of traditional retirement years (55 and older)
and that those age 55 and older will constitute nearly 30 percent of Ohio's
overall population by the year 2020.
Accordingly, the report, citing U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, states that
older workers (those age 55 and older) are now the most rapidly growing segment
of the Ohio and U.S. workforce. As a group, they are projected to increase nationwide
by 47 percent from 2006 to 2016. In Ohio, the proportion of older workers in
the state's workforce is expected to rise from 16.7 percent to 22.4 percent
(an increase of 34 percent) in that same 10-year span. Other interesting projections
from the report include:
* Two-thirds of Ohioans age 55 to 64 are expected to be in the state's workforce
in 2016.
* Roughly 20 percent of Ohioans age 65 and older are expected to be in the
state's workforce in the year 2016.
* By 2016, two-thirds of all job openings in Ohio are expected to be for positions
replacing retirees.
The number of older persons in the workforce will not increase solely because
of the growth in the older population, but also, the researchers note, because
a high proportion (32 percent) of older workers have not saved for retirement
and only about one-third expect to have employer-based health insurance after
they leave employment.
In some cases, though, older workers remain in the workforce simply because
they enjoy their jobs, wish to stay active, mentally alert and/or find their
work fulfilling.
The report, authored by gerontology doctoral student Lydia Manning, and Shahla
Mehdizadeh, senior research scholar at Scripps and adjunct associate professor
of gerontology and sociology - and produced in consultation with the Ohio Dept.
of Aging - includes profiles of several older workers in Ohio and touches on
the general virtues of older employees, such as better work ethic; lower absenteeism;
lower turnover; flexibility in scheduling; and job-specific skills. The report
also lists incentives that some companies are offering to retain workers, such
as flexible schedules, employee discounts and eldercare benefits.
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