More People Living Longer

Not only are we seeing an ageing Boomer population that is used to having life adjust to them, this group is living longer and better than any generation in history. At the turn of the 19Th to 20Th Century people lived on average about 60 years. Now that has stretched to almost 80 years.

The baby boom generation is a demographic term for the population born between 1946 and 1964. Data from the 2000 U.S. Census estimates that the group that holds the “boomer” moniker is made up of at least 82,826,479 individuals. The members of this group range from 41 to 59 years old, which means this demographic behemoth, has started leaving the workforce. What will this exit mean to your organization or group or church? To answer this question, you need to look at major age shifts that alter the demographic landscape of the U.S. labor force.

The aging of the baby boom generation makes pre-seniors this decade’s fastest-growing age group, expanding nearly 50 percent in size from 2000 to 2010.

The 45-to-54 year-old group will continue to grow as well, as the larger, later end of the baby boom cohort (born between 1956 and 1965) replaces the emerging pre-seniors. The inflated sizes for the 65-and-older population over the next two decades is enormous and we can expect these two groups continue to age.

Are you ready? Is your organization ready? Will you want to retire? Can your afford to retire? Who will take the place of all the retiring Boomers? Illegal immigrants? There will be a crisis in the workforce.