Older Worker Issues

Age and Workforce Demographics

The point at which the term older worker is applied in studies of workforce demographics may be as early as 40 years of age or as late as 65 years of age. Nonetheless, studies of workforce demographics all come to similar conclusions: The proportion of older adults who continue to engage in paid employment well into their 60s and 70s is growing and the proportion of our workforce that can be classified as older will continue to expand throughout the next decade.

Labor force participation rates generally tend to drop off beginning at about age 55 years, due primarily to early and normal retirements. However, labor force participation rates among those who are age 55 years and older are on the rise, with a projected labor force participation rate of 37% among those 55 and older by the year 2010. Among those ages 55 to 64 years, participation rates are expected to exceed 60%, and participation rates among those aged 65 to 74 are expected to exceed 22%. In fact, it is projected that over 55 workers will compose approximately 17% of the total civilian labor force in the United States by the year 2010. The growth of this segment of the workforce represents the convergence of several forces, including increased health and life span, economic policies that encourage prolonged working (e.g., increases in the standard retirement age that qualifies an individual for full Social Security benefits), and elimination of mandatory retirement policies from most civilian occupations in the United States.

Changes That Accompany Aging

Several aspects of physical work capacity, such as aerobic capacity, strength and endurance, tolerance for heat and cold, and ability to adapt to shifts in waking and sleeping cycles, systematically decline with age. Sensory skills such as visual acuity and auditory sensitivity, and some psychomotor abilities including manual dexterity and finger dexterity, begin to decline once workers move into their 40s and beyond. Of course, the extent to which such decrements are likely to be [Page 532]associated with performance problems depends substantially on the nature of physical job requirements.

The most consistent finding in studies of cognitive abilities across the life span is a general slowing of response to information processing demands as adults age, particularly as they move into their 60s and beyond. In addition, recall and working memory both decline with age. Also, the manner in which learners prefer to acquire new skills differs between younger and older learners, with older learners preferring more active, experiential learning approaches and preferring to learn at a somewhat slower pace. Certain aspects of cognition are more affected by aging than others, and the rate of decline is slowed when cognitive skills are used regularly—use it or lose it seems to be an apt phrase in this case. Furthermore, some aspects of intellectual development—notably, those aspects of cognitive functioning that rely on expert knowledge (or wisdom)—continue to increase or remain stable well into the 70s.

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