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 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 In 2003, 54,300,000 persons age 55 and above were insured under Social Security....  more In 2006, almost 50,000,000 individuals received Social Security benefits through the Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program. Of those, 63% were retired wo...  more According to the Social Security administration, Social Security "was 90% or more of income for 21% of aged beneficiary couples and 43% of aged nonmarried beneficiaries. Total...  more According to the Social Security Administration, the average new beneficiary received $810 a month through the Social Security program. (Social Security Administration, 2006a:...  more For the average earner, retiring at age 65, Social Security replaces about 41 percent of pre-retirement earnings. (Center for Retirement Research, 2006: 8)....  more Of households with at least one adult aged 55-61, 43% of those that received Old Age, Survivors, and Disbiliaty (OASDI) benefits reported receiving wage, salary, or self-emplo...  more Of households with at least one adult aged 62-64, 46% of those that received Old Age, Survivors and Disability (OASDI) benefits reported receiving wage, salary, or self-employ...  more Of households with at least one adult aged 65 or older, 22% of those that received Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) benefits reported receiving wage, salary...  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 Social Security Administration, "In 2004, 90% of married couples and 88% of nonmarried persons aged 65 or older received Social Security benefits." (Social Se...  more According to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, Social Security provided 72.7% of non-earned income of those aged 65 and older in 2004.  Pensions, asse...  more 30.9%, 37.4%, 41%, 48.4% and 49.4% of persons age 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84 and 85 and older were kept out of poverty by Social Security in 1998....  more While Social Security represented 100% of the income received by 13% of persons age 65 and above in 1980, it represented 100% of the income received by 17% of persons age 65...  more Between 1980 and 1999, the average monthly Social Security benefit increased by 135.6%...  more According to the "A Work-Filled Retirement" survey, "a substantial share of workers (35%) is currently saving nothing to supplement expected Social Security payments. When a...  more According to the "A Work-Filled Retirement" survey, "4 in 10 workers believe their principle source of retirement income will come from employer-sponsored pensions or 401(k) p...  more According to the "A Work-Filled Retirement" survey, "of the retired-but-working group, only 31% currently receive Social Security benefits, while 75% have other money saved fo...  more According to the "A Work-Filled Retirement" survey, "men are more likely than women to believe they will rely on personal savings (25% vs 20%) or on employer-sponsored pension...  more "For the average earner, retiring at age 62 -- a common retirement age -- Social Security today replaces 33 percent of pre-retirement earnings or 31 percent after deducting th...  more According to the 2007 EBRI Retirement Confidence Survey, "fewer than 1 in 10 workers say they are very confident that the Social Security system will continue to provide benef...  more      back to top For a print-ready file of all statistics for this topic, click here. 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