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 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 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 "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 According to 1994-2002 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over a five year period, there were - on average - "slightly more than 20 non-fatal injuries or illnesses per...  more Compared to costs per claim for younger workers, "average costs per claim for older workers were more than twice as high on lost-time claims (more than $27,000 for older worke...  more According to analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the injury and illness incidence rate gap has been closing between older and younger workers. The rate for y...  more "Claim costs for workers aged 20-24 have maintained a constant level nearly 60% lower than workers aged 55-64 for indemnity and 40% lower for medical, based on claims data rep...  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 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 "In 2004-2005, an average of 5,749 fatalities occurred at work, resulting in an occupational injury fatality rate of 4.0 deaths per 100,000 workers 16 years of age and over....  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 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 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 A study evaluating the relationship between health, work environment, and retirement-related job lock finds that "over half of all respondents over the age of 55 [who experien...  more According to a 2005 report on worked-related injuries survey, "there were no significant age-related differences in injury circumstances. [For workers of all ages], most (82%)...  more According to a 2005 worked-related injuries survey, "older workers were significantly more likely to rate their injury as "severe" (34% of those aged 55 or older compared to 2...  more According to a 2005 work-related injuries survey, "over 97% of all workers with lost-time injuries received medical care for their injury." More than half in each age group (o...  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 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, twice as many younger workers (under 55) felt they should have returned to their jobs later than was recommended by their med...  more      back to top For a print-ready file of all statistics for this topic, click here. 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 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