Aging & Work Facts Database

This database provides you with easy-to-access facts and statistics related to aging & work. Here you will find:

• A sentence with a fact/statistic.
• The full citation so you can locate the source of the statistic (e.g., article, report, etc.).
• A short description of the study connected to the fact/statistic.
• And, in some cases, a figure representing the facts or statistics, such as a bar graph.

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 According to a 2008 survey on internet use among workers, "employed internet users ages 18-29 are more than twice as likely to blog when compared with 30-49 year olds (20% vs....  more Data from the 2007 National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development shows that 47% of employers report that older employees/late career employees have higher leve...  more In a 2008 survey of over 2000 U.S. employees, flexible work options were believed to be related to happiness at work by 54% of workers of all ages combined. For specific gene...  more In a 2008 survey of over 2000 U.S. employees, competitive pay was believed to be the most important benefit related to happiness at work for 71% of GenY employees, 70% of Gen...  more In a 2008 survey of over 2000 U.S. employees, 69% of baby boomers rate as important the trait "readily shares knowledge with co-workers" and 71% report that the trait describ...  more According to a 2008 WorldatWork report, traditionalists (age 63 and older) with between two and five years tenure have an engagement level of 85%--10 percentage points higher...  more According to a 2008 WorldatWork report, "employees of the Traditionalist generation (ages 63 and older) are the most engaged in their jobs overall, with an 84% employee engage...  more Results from a 2004 Pew survey on Internet use show that "older Baby Boomer Internet users (between 50-58 years old) are more like Generation X Internet users (between 28 and...  more According to a 2007 AARP report, 43.6% of workers 62 and older worked at a job that required computer use, compared with 49.3% of workers ages 50-61, 44.9%% of workers ages 26...  more In a 2007 survey of employees, 74% of Mature workers and 70% of Baby Boomers rated being "Professional" as "extremely or very important" to workplace culture. In comparison,...  more In a 2007 survey of employees, 90% of Mature workers rated being "Ethical" as "extremely or very important" to workplace culture. In comparison, 84% of Baby Boomers, 83% of G...  more In a 2007 survey of employees, 87% of Mature workers and 81% of Baby Boomers say they currently use a desktop computer for work. In comparison, 75% of Generation X and 71% of...  more In a 2007 survey of employees, 56% of Mature workers and 54% of Baby Boomers perceived "Management Skills" to be an element of success in the workplace. In comparison, 45% o...  more In a 2007 survey of employees, 78% of Mature workers and 82% of Baby Boomers perceived computer use to be an "element of success in the workplace." In comparison, 79% of Gene...  more In a 2007 survey of employees, 76% of Mature workers said "Freedom to set own hours if the work gets done" is appealing, compared to 74% of Baby Boomers, 73% of Generation X w...  more Approximately 25% of employers responding to a 2007 national survey stated that it is "true/very true" that early-career  (26.5%) and late-career (25.3%) employees are di...  more Among employers responding to a 2007 national survey, approximately 20% indicated that it is "true/very true" that their employees [in all career stages] do not work well wit...  more Among employers responding to a 2007 national survey, approximately 20% that is was "true/very true" that their employees [in all career stages] do not work well with co-worke...  more According to data from the 2007 National Study of the Changing Workforce, 65% of employees at mid-life (31-49 years) and 67% of employees aged 50 and older reported that they...  more According to data from the 2007 National Study of the Changing Workforce, young employees (aged 18-30) have an average of 6.4 years in the labor force, compared to 21.3 years...  more Among participants in a 2007 survey on health care concerns, "young people (ages 18 to 34) are more concerned about their dental needs (44 percent) and protecting themselves f...  more When asked about whether or not they agreed that older workers were respected, were interested in promotion, or were like to get a promotion, Generation X, Generation Y, Baby...  more Information from the 2007 National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development shows that 32.4% of workers 50 and older describe themselves as having good mental heal...  more Data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce suggests that wage and salaried workers aged 54 and older are more likely to report being "very satisfied" with the...  more According to data from a 2006 national survey, psychological distress is highest among 17-44 year olds; it decreases for 45-64 year olds, and then increases slightly among 65-...  more When workers of different generations were asked about their perceptions regarding opportunities for promotion for older workers and on their levels of psychological well-bein...  more When workers of different generations were asked about their perceptions regarding opportunities for promotion for older workers and on their levels of employee engagement, em...  more When workers of different generations were asked the extent to which they agreed or disagreed (1=strongly disagree; 2=disagree; 3=neutral; 4=agree; 5=strongly agree) with vari...  more When workers of different generations were asked the extent to which they agreed or disagreed (1=strongly disagree; 2=disagree; 3=neutral; 4=agree; 5=strongly agree) with vari...  more When workers of different generations were asked the extent to which they agreed or disagreed (1=strongly disagree; 2=disagree; 3=neutral; 4=agree; 5=strongly agree) with the...  more A 2007 analysis of data from the National Study of the Changing Workforce indicates that 37% of employees between the ages of 31-49 years report feeling "often/very often" ove...  more Using a standardized measure of depression, the 2007 National Study of the Changing Workforce found that among labor force participants, approximately half of workers of all a...  more Information from the 2007 National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development indicates that 56% of workers aged 50 and older report a high level of job satisfactio...  more According to data from the 2007 National Study of the Changing Workforce, older employees (32%) are more likely to report high commitment to employers than either young employ...  more According to data from the 2007 National Study of the Changing Workforce, when compared to young employees, approximately three fourths of employees at mid-life and older hav...  more According to data from the 2007 National Study of the Changing Workforce, the average number of paid vacation days offered to older employees (16.5 days) is higher than the av...  more Information from the 2007 National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development indicates that 44.4% of employers report that it is "very true" that their older adult/...  more Approximately 2 of every 5 (39.7%) of the employers stated that they train their supervisors on managing a multi-generational workforce. (p. 17)...  more Organizations responding to a 2007 national survey estimated that similar percentages of their early-career, mid-career, and late-career employees use flexible work options (1...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 58% of human resource professionals from large (500-or-mor...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), when asked how often resentment between workers of differe...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), when asked how often employees took coworkers from other g...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), when asked how often employees stated that coworkers from...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), when asked how often perspectives of workers from two or m...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), when asked how often intergenerational mentoring occurred,...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), when asked how often communication breakdowns between work...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), when asked how often employees felt coworkers from other g...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), when asked how often conflicts regarding acceptable work h...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), when asked how often better quality of work was produced d...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), when asked how often workers from different generations le...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), when asked how often workers from different generations wo...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), "human resource professionals from large organizations wer...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), "forty percent of respondents [human resource professional...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), "human resource professionals who work in the public or go...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), "human resource professionals from nonprofit organizations...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM),  "most human resource professionals (60%) said they w...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 48% of human resource professionals surveyed said that the...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 40% of human resource professionals surveyed said that the...  more In a 2007 national study, 40.3% of the respondants stated that their organizations offer training to supervisors so that they can provide career advice to employees at differe...  more Among the top 10 HR challenges noted by employers in a 2007 national study, encouraging employees to remain with the organization was reported as being an HR challenge to a gr...  more According to a 2007 Center for Creative Leadership survey, 70% of workers trust their boss and 60% say they trust their peers, whereas 54% of workers trust their organizations...  more Comparing work priorities of older and younger workers in a 2004 Families and Work Institute survey, 22% of boomers are work-centric, comparerd to 12-13% of Gen-Y and Gen-X. I...  more According to a 2004 Families and Work study, "Twenty-two percent of Boomers are work-centric, compared with 12 to 13 percent of other generations." (p.7)...  more In a 2007 survey of human resource professionals at over 500 organizations, 22.4 percent said it was very true that early-career employees were loyal to the company, compared...  more An analysis of the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce found that only 21% of young adult workers said they had more skills than needed for their jobs, compared to 4...  more Analysis of the March 1977 and 2007 Current Population Surveys indicate that when the Baby Boomers were entering the workforce in 1977, the vast majority of workers were in on...  more "According to analysis of the National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development, employers were more likely to report that they have offered on the job training to...  more According to data from the 2007 National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development, employers respond that is it "very true" that their older adult/late career empl...  more According to analysis of data from the National Study of the Changing Workforce*, employees at mid-life and older are more likely to report that they have access to employer-s...  more The baby boomers, those born between 1946-1964 are shown represent the largest segment (48%) of the U.S. labor force in 2000.  By 2010, the baby boomers labor force parti...  more According to analysis of the National Study of the Changing Workforce, 46.7% of employers report  that older workers (late career) are more likely than employees at mid-l...  more When asked what their organizations were doing or had done to deal with the multi-generational workplace, 50 percent of human resource professionals mentioned that keeping wor...  more According to analysis of the Benchmark Study, more than half (60%) of the respondents felt it was "true" that their organizations understand the importance of treating employe...  more Analysis of the March 1977 and 2007 Current Population Surveys indicate that when the Baby Boomers were entering the workforce in 1977, the vast majority of workers were in on...  more According to the 2004 Generational Differences Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 30% of human resource managers said that there were compla...  more "The oldest workers surveyed (age 66-70) were significantly more likely to identify their employers as 'very loyal' (53%) than their younger peers. In contrast, among...  more      back to top For a print-ready file of all statistics for this topic, click here. Older Workers, Advantages of Older Workers, Costs of Older Workers, Job Skills and Demands Older Workers, Perceptions about Peformance, Productivity, 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