Older Workers Staying Put

Recently, I highlighted how the recession has dramatically shifted the combination of the workforce, as many Generation Y workers seek to enter the workforce while many Baby Boomers refuse to take retirement. A new survey by the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends project finds that older adults are staying in the labor force longer, while younger adults are staying out of it longer, a trend that's expected to continue even as the economy recovers. The survey found that 54 percent of workers ages 65 and older say the main reason they work is that they want to, while 17 percent said it's because they need a paycheck and 27 percent said they're motivated by a mix of desire and need.

At the other end of the age spectrum, however, a rising share of Americans ages 16 to 24 are in school and a declining share are in the labor force - 57 percent today versus 66 percent in 2000. Two factors could explain this trend, Pew found. For example, 73 percent of the public feels that a person needs a college education to get ahead in life, up from about 49 percent in 1978. Second, younger adults are being hit bard by the recession, and some may have become discouraged and dropped out of the labor market. More than 40 percent of nonworking 16- to 24-year-olds say they've looked for work but can't find anything.

With the recession turning the graying office grayer, and with speculation that these statistics may not change as the economy recovers, what implications does this hold for the federal government, especially as it seeks to retain the knowledge of the older workforce, as well as adopt Web 2.0 technologies in part to appeal to a younger demographic?

Wired Workplace is a daily look at issues facing the federal information technology workforce. It is written by former Government Executive reporter Brittany Ballenstedt and published on Nextgov.com. Click here to read the latest entries.