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 Among exempt (salaried) employees who indicated an interest in reducing their hours and working part-time, more wanted to work either as contractors or consultants (even if th...  more According to the "A Work-Filled Retirement survey, "nearly 7 in 10 workers expect to continue to work full time or part time following retirement from their main job, includ...  more According to the "Attitudes of individuals 50 and older toward phased retirement" survey conducted by the AARP, "more than four in five (86%) workers 50-65 who plan to retire...  more According to the "Attitudes of individuals 50 and older toward phased retirement" survey conducted by the AARP "three in four (75%) [workers 50-65 who plan to work beyond age...  more According to the "Attitudes of individuals 50 and older toward phased retirement" survey conducted by the AARP, "approximately two in three (66%) workers ages 66 and older are...  more "Workers aged 65 and older...represent a larger share of independent contractors (7.0%) than they do of workers in traditional arrangements (2.5%)." (p.27)...  more In 2005, 10.9% of the labor force was self-employed. In 2005, 13.0% of the labor force aged 45-54 was self-employed. In 2005, 16.9% of the labor force aged 55-64 was self-empl...  more According the analysis of the National Study of the Changing Workforce, when compared with their younger counterparts, workers 60 or more years old are about twice as likely t...  more According to analysis of the National Study of the Changing Workforce, 41% of small business owners aged 50 or older had taken at least one overnight business trip in the past...  more According to analysis of the National Study of the Changing Workforce, small business owners, 50 or older, followed closely by self-employed independents, report that they hav...  more Based on CPS data on self-employment, "in 2003, older workers were more likely to be self-employed than younger workers." (p. 15)  The unincorported* self-employment rat...  more According to analysis of 2003 CPS data "self-employment is more common among men than women" (p. 16) in all age groups. Among "unincorporated* self-employed" workers aged 65...  more According to a 2004 Bureau of Labor Statistics report, "among all workers, self-employment rates [excluding self-employed in incorporated businesses] are higher for men than f...  more A 2007 analysis of Census Bureau data shows that "among workers not eligible for [health insurance] benefits, 56.8 percent were employed part time, 18.3 percent had not comple...  more According to an analysis of Current Population Survey data, in 2005, Americans aged 55 to 64 formed small businesses at the highest rate of any age group; 0.34 percent of adul...  more According a 2007 analysis of Health and Retirement Survey data, among "war babies" (HRS respondents born between 1942-1947), 13% were self-employed. Of those, 59% were still o...  more "Some 28% of respondents age 55-59 listed themselves as 'self-employed or business owner,' exceeded only by 34% who reported that they worked in a 'private sector...  more "While 28% of respondents age 55-59 listed themselves as "self-employed or business owner," more than one-third (36%) of 60-65 year olds and 42% of 66-70 year-olds work for th...  more “…wage and salaried employees, 50 or more years old, are more likely to be women (54 percent) than men (46 percent), while self-employed independents and small business ow...  more The 2005 Future of the U.S. Labor Pool Survey found that 33 percent of employers offer options for project-based work. (Table 5, p. 9)...  more Men older workers (37 percent) were three times as likely as the women (12 percent) to indicate an interest in working as a consultant. (pp. 38-39)...  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 and...  more “When considering workers of all ages, by far the largest proportion (80 percent) are wage and salaried employees who “work for someone else.” However, a substantial pro...  more According to analysis of the National Study of the Changing Workforce, "workers, 50 or older, are significantly more likely than younger workers to be independent self-employe...  more “26 percent of wage and salaried employees of all ages planned to be self-employed or have their own business at some time in the future as their major source of income from...  more Younger wage and salaried employees were more likely than older wage and salaried employees to have plans for self-employment or having their own business: "43 percent of empl...  more “Thirty-two percent of self-employed independents and 14 percent of small business owners of all ages would prefer to have regular jobs working for someone else; however, am...  more “Among workers (50 or more years old) wage and salaried employees are much more likely to be women (54 percent) than are self-employed independents (27 percent) and small bu...  more “Wage and salaried employees (50 years or older) are more likely to belong to racial minorities (17 percent) than self-employed independents (8 percent) and small business o...  more “Small business owners, 50 or more years old, are somewhat more likely to be legally married (68 percent wage and salaried; 60 percent self-employed; 77 percent small busine...  more “Small business owners have much higher annual earnings ($114,102 average; $65,000 median) than wage and salaried employees or independently self-employed workers.” (Table...  more “Small business owners tend to spend longer hours at work each week than wage and salaried employees and, particularly, self-employed independents: 59 percent of small busin...  more “Small business owners, 50 or older, are much more likely to have flexibility than wage and salaried employees, with independent self-employed workers falling in between.”...  more “Small business owners (90 percent) are more likely than independent self-employed workers (83 percent) and wage and salaried employees (79 percent) to want to continue work...  more “Older small business owners and self-employed independents are, by a small margin, more likely than wage and salaried employees to be highly satisfied with their lives, in...  more “Among older workers*, 74 percent are wage/salaried workers, 17 percent are self-employed independents, and 9 percent are owners of small businesses.” (Figure 3, p.4) * T...  more According to a 2006 survey of employers, the most frequently used strategies to retain older workers are alternative work schedules (48%) and consulting assignments (42%). (p....  more      back to top For a print-ready file of all statistics for this topic, click here. 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 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