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 Business Strategies & Workforce Development Caregiving: Elder Caregiving: Employer-sponsored benefits for Caregiving: Other (grandchildren, spouse, dependents) Demographics: Age Distribution, Life Expectancy 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 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, Absenteeism According to the 2001-02 American Productivity Audit, lost productive time due to back pain is higher in younger men; almost 3% of men in the 18-39 age range report 2 or more...  more According to the 2001-02 American Productivity Audit, lost productive time due to arthritis was highest in older age groups; for example less than 1% of women aged 25-29 lost...  more According to the 2001-02 American Productivity Audit, lost productive time due to headache was highest in males and females in younger age groups; for example approximately 6....  more Analysis of the American Productivity Audit (2001-02) indicates that "thirteen percent of the total workforce experienced a loss in productive time during a 2 week period due...  more For workers over the age of 40, the top four STD [short-term disability] impairments with the longest durations of time away from work are cancer and mental health disorders,...  more Based on analysis of the UnumProvident Disability Database, 2002-2004, "The primary drivers of long term impairments and work disruptions for the older worker are musculoskele...  more "A 55-year-old worker has a 30% lower risk of being injured on the job than a 30-year-old worker", according to analysis of 2003 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and C...  more Analysis of the UnumProvident Disability Database shows that "workers over the age of 40 have lower incidence of work injuries, short term disability and unscheduled absences...  more According to analysis of the UnumProvident Disability Database, "health risk factors [such as smoking, obesity, uncontrolled blood pressure, etc.], double and triple the healt...  more Based on analysis of the 2002-04 UnumProvident Disability Database, musculoskeletal injuries are the most prevalent cause of short-term disabilities for workers over the age o...  more Based on analysis of the 2002-04 UnumProvident Disability Database, "The over-40 worker with musculoskeletal injury or impairment is reported to stay off work 12 days longer,...  more According to the 2001-02 American Productivity Audit, the prevalence of depression among workers of all ages was 9.4% during a 2-week study period; among ages 18-35, the preva...  more Analysis of 1996-2003 claims data from NCCI show that "at 18 months after injury, 72% of claims are closed for those aged 20-34 versus 58% for the 45-64 age cohort. Sixty mont...  more According to a 2008 survey, employers report that they are tracking and benchmarking results of strategies for improving health and productivity. For example, 32% indicate th...  more According to a 2008 survey of employers, "60% of respondents report that they have a leadership talent shortage right now that will impede their organization's performance...  more In a 2008 survey of employers, HR leaders and benefits mangers indicated that to improve the health and productivity of their workforce, for the 2008 plan year [their companie...  more According to a 2006 MetLife report on caregiving costs, the total estimated cost to employers for all full-time, employed caregivers is $33.6 billion; the average cost per emp...  more Based on analysis of 2001 BLS data, three age groups (25-34, 35-44, and 45-54) accounted for 78.9% of cases of musculoskeletal disorders [injuries or disorders of the muscles,...  more According to a 2007 study of health and productivity costs in 4 large companies, health-related productivity costs [including absenteeism, preseenteeism, medical, and pharmace...  more Based on 2003 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data, for seven of the most common chronic diseases [cancers, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease, pulmonary condition...  more Based on analysis of 2001 BLS data, younger age groups accounted for the majority of cases of cases of anxiety, stress and neurotic disorder cases involving days away from wor...  more According to the 2001-02 American Productivity Audit, 8.63 percent of 18 to 29 year old workers reported that they lost more than 2 hours a week in productive time due to pain...  more According to CPS data on self-reported health status, "17 percent of persons age 55-64 have a work-limiting health problem compared with 9 percent of persons age 40-54 and 5 p...  more A study evaluating the relationship between health, work environment, and retirement-related job lock finds that "86% of respondents over the age of 55 [who experienced a work...  more Based on analysis of the 2002-04 UnumProvident Disability Database, "workers over the age of 40 account for 50% of all received short-term disability (STD) claims, and up to 7...  more The adjusted mean lost productive time (LPT*) for a family health reason was significantly higher in younger (less than 40 years of age) than older workers (40 or more years...  more In a 2005 survey of workers aged 55 or older who experienced a workplace injury, 47% lost at least 1 day of work due to their work injury. (p. 288)...  more According to a 2007 national study, late-career employees are thought to be less likely to take a lot of time from work to deal with personal of family issues, such as child c...  more According to a 2007 national study, 20.7% of employers responded that their late-career employees have high rates of absenteeism due to illness, compared to 16.9% of mid-caree...  more In the 2007 National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development, 26.5% of employers responded that it is "true/very true" that early-career employees have a high rat...  more According to analysis of the National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development, the top five business strategies that were very important for organizations were in...  more According to the 2003 Eldercare Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 13% of HR professionals stated that the overall employees in their organi...  more According to the 2003 Eldercare Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 3% of HR professionals strongly disagreed with the statement "eldercare i...  more According to the 2003 Eldercare Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 10% of HR professionals reported their organization has seen "missed appo...  more According to the 2003 Eldercare Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 16% of HR professionals reported their organization has seen "strained em...  more According to the 2003 Eldercare Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 28% of HR professionals reported their organization has seen "scheduling...  more In a 2005 survey of workers aged 55 or older who experienced a workplace injury that resulted in at least one day of lost work, 34% of the injuries involved upper extremities...  more In a 2005 survey of workers aged 55 or older who experienced a workplace injury and lost at least one day of work, 11% reported intent to retire earlier due to their injury....  more According to the 2001-02 American Productivity Audit, "50-65 year olds reported only two-thirds of the lost productive time (LPT*) [due to health reasons] compared with those...  more Among 16,000 workers participating in a survey at a large company, caregivers reported an average of 7.7 hours absent from work during the 2-week study period. Among older w...  more Among 16,000 workers participating in a survey at a large company, approximately 5% of older workers (aged 55-64) reported being absent from work to care for an ill family mem...  more Among older workers in a 2004 study on work limitations due to illness, arthritis was reported by 28% of workers aged 50-54, 34% of those aged 55-59, and 43% of those aged 60-...  more Among all workers [all ages combined] in a 2004 study who reported having at least one medical condition for which they are being treated by a physician, 25.4% reported experi...  more According to the 2005 National Health Interview Survey, 95.2% of respondents aged 18-44 years old reported that they were "not limited in work" because of physical, mental or...  more According to the 2005 National Health Interview Survey, 2.9% of repondents 18-44 years old reported themselves as "unable to work" due to a physical, mental or emotional probl...  more According to the 2005 National Health Interview Survey, 6.0% of adults ages 18 to 44 reported that they must limit their participation in "usual activities" -- such as work, s...  more According to a 2005 work-related injuries survey, twice as many younger workers (under 55) felt they should have returned to their jobs later than was recommended by their med...  more According to a 2005 work-related injuries survey, older workers (over 55) were slightly more likely to report working fewer hours due to the injury (13.7%) compared to workers...  more According to a 2005 work-related injuries survey, 79% of workers over the age of 55 had returned to work after their injury, compared to 84% of workers under 55; this differen...  more According to the 2003 Eldercare Survey conducted by Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), “eldercare issues indicate a negative impact on an employee’s productivit...  more      back to top For a print-ready file of all statistics for this topic, click here. 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