Aging & Work Facts Database

Now, for a limited time, the Center on Aging & Work is making this resource available publicly before granting exclusive access to Center Partners & Affiliates, and members of the Center’s research team.

Features of the Aging & Work Facts Database include:

• individual facts searchable by topic
• brief descriptions of studies connected to facts
• powerpoint-ready graphics
• full citations, for those interested in locating the statistic’s source

During this initial period of Beta-testing we welcome your feedback.

After July 1, 2008, Aging & Work Facts will be accessible only through a password protected web page, with exclusive access given to Center Partners, Employer Affiliates, and members of the Center Research Team. For more information on how to become a Partner or Employer Affiliate, please contact agework@bc.edu.

KEYWORD Search Tips:

• Enter one or more keywords in the search box below. Using “and” between keywords is not necessary. To find only facts with graphs, include the word “graph” in your search.
• If you use more than one word in the search box and no results appear, try removing one or more of the words. 
• If no results appear, you may try alternate forms of the word (for example, if "marriage" does not work you may try "marital")
• To view the facts relevant to your search, click on “more” in the first item.  Then use the “next” button to view each of the facts retrieved by your search.
• At this time, exact phrase searching is not available.

TOPIC Search Tips:

• Topics are arranged alphabetically.  Scroll down to view topics, clicking on a topic to access facts of interest.  To view a specific fact, click “more.”  Click the “next” button for additional facts on that topic.
• To view a print-ready file of all of the facts for a particular topic, scroll to the bottom of the results display.

SEARCH BY TOPIC: Age Bias and Employment Discrimination Age Distribution of Population; also, Life Expectancy Business Strategies & Workforce Development Caregiving: Elder Caregiving: Employer-sponsored benefits for Caregiving: Other (grandchildren, spouse, dependents) Education and Training Educational Attainment Employee Engagement & Job Satisfaction Employer-sponsored benefits (see also Caregiving) Employment Preferences Flexible Work Options (general) Flexible Work Options: Bridge Jobs Flexible Work Options: Consulting, Contract Work, Self-employment Flexible Work Options: Flexible Schedule Flexible Work Options: Leaves of Absence Flexible Work Options: Part-time Employment Flexible Work Options: Phased Retirement Flexible Work Options: Remote Work, Telecommuting, Telework Flexible Work Options: Work Redesign Gender Health: Health Behaviors Health: Health Care Costs Health: Health Insurance Health: Health Status Health: Workplace Injuries Income Knowledge Transfer Labor Force Participation Language and Immigration Marital Status Medicare & Medicaid Mental Health Multi-generational Workplace Older Workers, Advantages of Older Workers, Costs of Older Workers, Job Skills and Demands Older Workers, Perceptions about Peformance & Productivity (includes Absenteeism) Pensions and Retirement Accounts According to a 2008 report on the impact of a slowing economy by AARP, 25% of workers aged 45-54 have prematurely withdrawn funds from 401(k), IRA, or other investments, as ha...  more According to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, Social Security provided 72.7% of non-earned income of those aged 65 and older in 2004.  Pensions, asse...  more "In 2004, employer-sponsored pension income accounted for 19 percent of total income for those 65 and over." (p.6)...  more In 2004, 11% of workers had defined benefit only pension coverage, 61% of workers had defined contribution only pension coverage, and 28% of workers had both types of coverage...  more "Between 1984 (the first year separate data are available for 401(k) plans) and 2004, all dimensions of 401(k) plans -- assets, benefits, participants, and contributions -- ha...  more In 2003, small employers cited the following reasons for not offering a retirement plan: 41% of small employers cited business related reasons, 27% of small employers cited em...  more In 2004, workers cited the following reasons for not participating in a pension plan: 27% of workers stated they did not meet age or service requirements, 14% of workers state...  more "For households aged 63-73 in 2004, 67 percent had acquired some sort of employer-sponsored pension coverage over their lifetime. However, again, pension coverage is much more...  more In 2004, 51% of full time male workers and 51.9% of full time female workers had pension coverage. (p.3, Fig.3)...  more "Pension participation in 2004 was lower than it was in 1979…In 1979, 51 percent of non-agicultural wage and salary workers in the private sector aged 25-64 participated in...  more "Less than 1 percent of those earning $40-$60,000 contribute the maximum [to a 401(k) plan] compared to 58 percent for those earning $100,000 or more." (p.3)...  more In 2001, 26% of eligible workers were not participating in 401(k) plans. In 2004, that number had fallen to 21% of eligible workers. (p.3, Fig.4)...  more According to a 2007 GAO analysis of BLS and CPS data, the hourly costs of retirement and savings benefits for full-time workers were $1.07, compared to $0.18 for part-time wor...  more According to a 2008 survey, "93% of employers offer some type of defined contribution (DC) plan, and only 30% offer a defined benefit (DB) plan. Almost 90% of employers have...  more According to a 2008 survey of small business owners, 67% of the business owners report that they offer a 401(k) or 403(b) retirement plan for their workers. Of those, 75% repo...  more According to the 2007 EBRI Retirement Confidence Survey, when workers were asked about their expectations of receiving benefits from employer-provided traditional pension plan...  more According to the Urban Institute's analysis of HRS data from 1992-2004, for participants aged 63-67, "layoffs reduce pension wealth in traditional employer-sponsored defin...  more "According to the Department of Labor, half of workers in the private sector have neither defined benefit nor defined contribution plans. About 7 percent have only tradition...  more "Men age 50 or older (45 percent) are more likely than women (35 percent) to indicate that they have a defined-benefits pension plan (or guaranteed-benefits pension plan) thro...  more "In June 2004, average costs to employers in private industry for retirement and savings benefits were 82 cents per hour worked."...  more "In private industry, retirement and savings benefits costs in June 2003 were higher for union workers than for nonunion workers, both in dollar amount per hour ($1.76 versus...  more "In 2004, the median balance [for a 401(k) plan] for household heads aged 55-64 was $60,000...These balances had improved somewhat from $44,800 in 2001, most likely because th...  more The National Study of Employers, which surveyed workplaces with 50 or more employees, found that in 2005, “companies with 50 or more employees are most likely (83%) to offer...  more The National Study of Employers, which surveyed workplaces with 50 or more employees, found that in 2005, 74% of companies operating individual retirement plans also make cont...  more The National Study of Employers, which surveyed workplaces with 50 or more employees, found that in 2005, “34% of companies offer defined-benefit pensions.” (Table 18, pp....  more 73.6% of workers age 50-61 in the top 25% of income earners had employers that offered a pension in 2000. 53.8% of workers age 62-74 in the top 25% of income earners had emp...  more 28.8% of workers age 50-61 in the bottom 25% of income earners had employers that offered a pension in 2000. 21.3% of workers age 62-74 in the bottom 25% of income earners h...  more While the average pension amount for persons age 50-61 in the bottom 25% of income earners was $5,271 in 2000, persons of the same age in the top 25% of income earners had ave...  more Approximately 7.7% of persons age 50 to 61 in the top 25% of income earners received pension income in 2000. Approximately 36% of persons age 62-74 in the top 25% of income...  more Approximately 4.7% of persons age 50 to 61 in the bottom 25% of income earners received pension income in 2000. Approximately 15.2% of persons age 62 to 74 in the...  more Approximately 93.4% of persons age 50 to 61 in the top 25% of income earners participated in a pension plan in 2000. Approximately 83.5% of persons age 62 to 74 in...  more Approximately 69% of persons age 50 to 61 in the bottom 25% of income earners participated in a pension plan in 2000. Approximately 57.5% of persons age 62 to 74 in the...  more Research suggests that in 2002, about four of every ten men and about three of every ten women between the ages of 55 and 64 who receive income from private pensions (one indi...  more "Although 36.7 percent of older boomers had DB plans (27.4 percent had only-DB plans and 9.3 percent had both DB and DC plans), only 28.9 percent of younger boomers (21.2 pe...  more In 2002, 38.3% of Hispanic male workers aged 45 to 64 had pension plan coverage, compared with 52.9% of Black male workers and 55.6% of White male workers in the same age rang...  more Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine the experiences of retirees who were aged 51 to 61 in 1992 and therefore who were 61 to 71 in 2002, Cahill a...  more “Men age 50 or older (45 percent) are more likely than women (35 percent) to indicate that they have a defined-benefits pension plan (or guaranteed-benefits pension plan) th...  more The National Study of Employers, which surveyed workplaces with 50 or more employees, found that “employers in 2005 are less likely (41%) than those in 1998 (48%) to provide...  more The National Study of Employers, which surveyed workplaces with 50 or more employees, found that “employers in 2005 are less likely (81%) than employers in 1998 (91%) to mak...  more Survey data from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2004 National Compensation Survey found that of the eighty-five percent of workers with access...  more 87% of the 2005 AARP survey respondents view continuing pension benefits accruals as an important ingredient in any phased retirement arrangement. 63% said that phased retirem...  more "For full-time wage and salary workers approaching retirement age who had pension coverage, median pension wealth on the current job was 76% greater for men than women." (p.32...  more "The majority of working women (70 percent in 2000) are concentrated in two industries: services, 49.0 percent, and wholesale/retail trade, 20.9 percent. By comparison, men ar...  more According to the "A Work-Filled Retirement" survey, "men are more likely than women to believe they will rely on personal savings (25% vs 20%) or on employer-sponsored pension...  more According to the "A Work-Filled Retirement" survey, "almost 60% of employees still working in their primary job are currently eligible through their employer for a retirement...  more According to the "A Work-Filled Retirement" survey, "4 in 10 workers believe their principle source of retirement income will come from employer-sponsored pensions or 401(k) p...  more "Among aging Baby Boomers (age 55-59), a significant percentage of workers have minimal savings, and 18% expect to have no access to retirement benefits (e.g. pension, 401(k),...  more In 2002, 55% and 24.9% of all male workers age 45 to 64 and age 65 and above had pension plan coverage. At the same time, 51.7% and 26.2% of all female workers age 45 to 64 an...  more      back to top For a print-ready file of all statistics for this topic, click here. Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration Reasons for working Recruitment , Retention, Tenure, Turnover Retirement Income & Expenditures Retirement Planning Retirement Statistics Retirement, Timing of Social Security Unemployment Voluntarism

DOWNLOAD A FACT SHEET: The following Fact Sheets contain selected facts and statistics from the database ( PDF format): "Mental Health" (Sep 2007) "Bridge Jobs" (Aug 2007) "Part-time Work" (Jul 2007) "The Multi-Generational Workplace" (Jul 2007) "Phased Retirement" (Jun 2007) "Age Bias And Employment Discrimination" (Feb 2007) "Employer Sponsored Pensions" (Feb 2007) "Age and the Labor Force" (Jan 2007) "Social Security and Older Workers" (Jan 2007) "Voluntarism Among Older Adults" (Jan 2007) "Older Workers’ Preferences for Work & Employ-ment" (Oct 2006) "Elder Caregiving" (Oct 2006)   SEARCH BY keyword: back to top