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 Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration Reasons for working Recruitment , Retention, Tenure, Turnover Retirement Income & Expenditures Retirement Planning Retirement Statistics Retirement, Timing of Social Security Unemployment Approximately 50.9% of the 127,000 displaced workers with tenures of at least 3 years age 65 and above lost their jobs because of plant or company closings or moves. 28.1% o...  more According to a 2006 analysis of Health and Retirement Study data from 1992-2004, among discouraged workers* aged 50 and over who still said they wanted a job but were no longe...  more In a 2005 report on an analysis of Displaced Worker Survey data, the authors found that "otherwise comparable workers with 20 years of tenure tend to find jobs that pay, on av...  more Based on a 2005 analysis of data from the Displaced Workers Survey, "one academic year of community college retraining raises older males' earnings--those 35 or older--by...  more In a 2002 national survey conducted for AARP, 75% of respondents 45 and older "agree that inability to find a job would damage their self-esteem, far more than those (50%) who...  more According to 2006 U.S. Census Bureau Statistics from the American Community Survey, the unemployment* rate is 3.6% for workers 75 and over, 3.8% for ages 55-74, 4.4% for ages...  more According to a 2006 analysis of the Displaced Workers Survey, "wage losses tend to increase with age ..., with those 50 and over losing about a third of their real wage as a r...  more According to a 2006 analysis of the Displaced Workers Survey, when the researchers controlled for tenure, "older workers are actually more likely than their younger counterpar...  more According to a 2006 analysis of the Displaced Workers Survey, among workers who were displaced and re-employed in full-time jobs in 2004, income decreased by 11.6% for workers...  more According to analysis of the Displaced Workers Survey, in 2004 "those 55-59 and 60-64 are about 20 percent less likely to be re-employed than younger workers." (p. 14)  R...  more According to a 2008 Pew Research Center survey,"15% of all workers say it is at least somewhat likely that they will be laid off in the coming year while 84% say there is litt...  more According to a 2008 Pew Research Center survey, 21% of workers between the ages of 18-29 were fired or laid off in the past year. For 30-49 year-olds the percentage was 15%; f...  more According to analysis of the Displaced Worker Survey, in 2004 the three-year displacement rate [the number of reported job losers over a three year period] was 8.1% for worker...  more According to analysis of the Displaced Workers Survey, in 2004 workers age 25-29 had a 4% probability of being displaced.  In comparison, the probability was 4.2% for age...  more According to 2007 Current Population Survey data, among the 42,207,000 persons aged 55 and over who are currently not in the labor force, 41,275,000 (98%) report that they "do...  more Based on analysis of 2003-05 CPS data, nearly one quarter (24.1%) of labor force participants aged 20 to 29 years were underemployed [defined as either unemployed, discouraged...  more Based on a 2006 analysis of HRS data from 1992-2004, it is estimated "that about 13 percent of older jobseekers eventually becomes a discouraged worker (i.e., someone willing...  more According to a 2006 analysis of Health and Retirement Study data from 1992-2004, "among discouraged workers* [aged 50 and over] 39% reported that they have a work-limiting hea...  more Approximately 20.5% of persons between age 55 and 64 who did not work in 1999 were poor at that time. Approximately 11.1% of persons between age 65 and above who did not wor...  more According to a Congressional Research Service report, in 2003, 4.8% of prime-age (35-54 years of age) workers were unemployed on average. Older workers continued to have a low...  more According to a Congressional Research Service report on unemployment and older workers, "the percentage of Americans who report unemployment compensation income declines from...  more Using data from the Health and Retirement study, Maestas (2007)  found that retirees in their early 50s are about 20 percent more likely than older retirees to have reti...  more According to a 2006 AARP report, "just over 2% of the 41 million persons aged 55 and older who were not in the labor force in 2005 reported that they wanted a job, but only 30...  more According to a 2006 AARP report, 7.6% of the population 55 and older reporting that they wanted a job were "discouraged workers." (Discouraged workers "are men and women who s...  more According to the Urban Institute's analysis of HRS data from 1992-2004, for participants aged 63-67, "job layoffs reduce Social Security wealth accumulation by about $4,70...  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 Urban Institute's analysis of HRS data from 1992-2004, 21% of respondents 51-55 were laid off at some point by the time they turned 62. Within this sampl...  more According to January 2006 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "reemployment rates for workers ages 20 to 24 and ages 25 to 54 were 66 and 75 percent, respectively. Reem...  more "While workers aged 45 and older make up 27 percent of all the nation's unemployed, they represent 37 percent of the long-term jobless," [longer than 26 weeks] according t...  more Among unemployed individuals in 2001 who reported having access to the Internet, age differences in the tendency to use the Internet to search for jobs are only minor.  F...  more According to a 2006 analysis of Health and Retirement Study data from 1992-2004, "40.1% of retired job-searchers [aged 50 and over] transitioned to employment within two years...  more According to a 2006 analysis of Health and Retirement Study data for people over 50 from 1992-2004, 12% of "searchers" were still searching for a job 2 years later. "Another...  more Based on analysis of 2003-05 CPS data, there is a "higher prevalence of underemployment* among older-aged workers in non-metropolitan areas" compared to those in metropolitan...  more      back to top For a print-ready file of all statistics for this topic, click here. 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