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 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 National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development, similar percentages of employers responded that it is "very true" that late-career employees ta...  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 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 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 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 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 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, 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, 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 According to a 2007 AARP report, 36.5% of workers 62 and older work in a setting that requires interpersonal skills, compared with 39.6% of workers ages 50-61, 36% of workers...  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 According to analysis of the National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development, employers were more likely to report the perception that late-career employees were...  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 the 2003 Eldercare Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 9% of HR professionals reported their organization has seen "resentment f...  more According to the "A Work-Filled Retirement" survey, "more than half of workers under the age of 35 believe that workers are old by the time they reach 55, and by the time a wo...  more The 2006 "Center for Retirement Research Survey of Employer Attitudes Towards Older Workers" reports that "two-thirds of the employers surveyed said an older employee or prosp...  more In the 2006 "Center for Retirement Research Survey of Employer Attitudes towards Older Workers," 51% of employers with 1000+ employees said that rank-and-file workers ages 55...  more In the 2006 "Center for Retirement Research Survey of Employer Attitudes Towards Older Workers," 46% of employers with 1000+ employees said that white-collar workers ages 55 a...  more In the 2006 "Center for Retirement Research Survey of Employer Attitudes Towards Older Workers" 46% of employers with 1000+ employees said that white-collar workers ages 55 an...  more In the 2006 "Center for Retirement Research Survey of Employer Attitudes Towards Older Workers," 17% of employers with 1000+ employees said that white-collar workers ages 55 a...  more In the 2006 "Center for Retirement Research Survey of Employer Attitudes Towards Older Workers" 14% of employers with 1000+ employees said that rank-and-file workers ages 55 a...  more In the 2006 "Center for Retirement Research Survey of Employer Attitudes Towards Older Workers" 36% of employers with 1000+ employees said that rank-and-file workers ages 55 a...  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 According to analysis of the National Study of the Changing Workforce, 15.8% of employers report the perception that their older (late career) workers are reluctant to try new...  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      back to top For a print-ready file of all statistics for this topic, click here. 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