100% of job growth since 2000 is folks 55 and over

[disneysteve]

According to an article in the AARP Bulletin this month, the US workforce has grown by about 17 million workers since 2000 and all of that growth has been workers 55 and over.

Since 2000, the number of workers under 55 has fallen by 692,000 while the number 55 and older has grown by 17.1 million. The number 65 and older has grown by 9.5 million.

The report, from the Federal Reserve, attributes this to the aging of baby boomers and doesn't expect the trend to continue.

What do you think about this? Is it because people are living longer healthier lives and aren't interested in hanging it up yet? Is it because more people are reaching traditional retirement age without adequate financial resources to retire? The article didn't address that at all but I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

[Jluke]

One scenario:

Age 55 in 2000...

then 2008 happened...

Age 63...

huge loss on retirement funds.. keep working.

Another scenario, already alluded to:
Baby Boom gen is working their way through the system.


Finally, what kind of jobs did they add?

[disneysteve]

One scenario:

Age 55 in 2000...

then 2008 happened...

Age 63...

huge loss on retirement funds.. keep working.

Another scenario, already alluded to:
Baby Boom gen is working their way through the system.


Finally, what kind of jobs did they add?

I didn't think of the recession effect. That's a great point. The article didn't go into any detail about the types of jobs.

Of course, this is part of the reason why young people are having a more difficult time finding employment. The older workers aren't leaving to open up positions as they traditionally have.

[Gailete]

I would take a wild guess after observing a lot of the younger crowd, the older workers get hired because they know how to work, don't expect to be promote their first week on the job, don't expect the best jobs and working hours, etc.

The young ones entering the job market think they don't have to work weekends, won't have to work any shift other than 9-5, expect an immediate pay raise after their first week, expect promotions theirs first month and a have a really misguided idea of their own worth to a job.

I learned over the years at various jobs that no one is irreplaceable. You might not get as good an employee, but you can find someone. At one place I worked the boss asked me to go through resumes sent in for a nursing job. Almost every resume was almost identical. They all wanted weekends off, wanted to work from 9-5 (that kind of shift for a nurse is about as rare as hen's teeth), and they all used the same comment of 700+ (can't remember the exact number they ALL used) of clinical time that they had worked. Those 700+ hours? Those were their clinical time on the floor of hospitals under a teacher's direct observation where they couldn't give even an aspirin without the teacher's okay. You can’t use that as actual clinical experience!

When I applied there a few years earlier, I said yes, I would work part time, any shift. At my interview I was told that no way in the world would I ever get full time! Two weeks after starting the job I was full time By the time I left in 3 years, I saw an amazing bunch of new nurses rotate through. One RN had never had a job since graduating and taking her state boards. She showed up late by about 15-20 minutes after the hour her first day. That is a serious no-no! I gave her a talking to. The next day, she was late again! She was gone within 2 weeks. Another 'forgot' her glasses every day, so she couldn't read the chart to hand out meds. What good was she if couldn’t pass meds which was the main thing she was hired to do. She was also scared to death to be working in a jail and she wasn't long there either. These were all younger girls that just thought that a job could and would be whatever you dictate to the boss.

If I was hiring a person, I would grab someone with a work history behind them such as 10-15 years on a job, than taking in someone that has no work history whatsoever, for their first job. It is also a scary thing to find out that a guy who has NEVER had a job in his life, is getting married while still in college! Years later, I'm not sure if he has yet found a job that agrees with him! My son who is his friend has been working full time almost constantly since HS ended as well as working PT while still in school and even now works FT and PT temp worker when he can. Maybe the difference was, if my boys wanted something they had to earn it themselves, no allowances here. Kids that are being routinely handed money not connected with any labor is are surely going to go into a job with some weird expectations. My niece, that I think being exposed to too many MASH episodes (even though my brother served a couple tours of duty in the middle east since 9-11), joined the army and before she was finished with book camp was discharged due to a health problem, something wrong with her hip. A problem I had never heard of before or after! I think she found out that the army wasn't a continuing joke with a laugh track. Lots of young kids just don’t understand going to work every day at whatever time you are told to show up.