Boomers hold more science jobs in Rhode Island
Posted on June 20, 2014
A new report from Careerbuilder points out that baby boomers hold a larger percentage of science jobs in Rhode Island, among other locales, than millennials.
According to the survey, the number of jobs held by baby boomers (age 55-64) grew 9 percent from 2007 to 2013, a gain of 1.9 million. The millennial workforce (age 22-34), however, has not recovered from the recession nearly as fast. With an increase of only 110,000 jobs, employment in 2013 was essentially unchanged from 2007 (.3 percent growth).
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the population of 55 and older Americans has grown 20 percent since 2007 – four times as fast as prime-working age millennials (ages 25-34).
The 55 and older group is the only age group to increase its labor force participation rate (+1.7 percentage points) and employment-to-population ratio (+.8 percentage points) since 2007.
Outside of food preparation and serving jobs, boomers have increased their share of jobs held in each category, including STEM occupations, relative to millennials. Construction and architecture and engineering occupations were particularly difficult fields to enter for young workers, with 19 and 10 percent drops in employment, respectively.
Of metro areas with one million or more residents, Pittsburgh, PA, Hartford, CT, and Cleveland, OH, have the largest share of workers age 55-64. Aging workforces in these regions’ strong manufacturing industries underlie the high concentration. At the other end of the spectrum, Salt Lake City leads all markets for jobs held by workers age 22-34. Millennials dominate the area’s emerging computer, health care and finance occupations.
“The recession prompted boomers and millennials to approach the labor market differently. Confronted by weaker entry-level job prospects, young professionals left the workforce in greater numbers or took lower paying jobs that didn’t take immediate advantage of their degrees,” said Matt Ferguson, CareerBuilder CEO and co-author of The Talent Equation. “Older workers, on the other hand, often had to postpone retirement to recoup lost savings. Never in history have workers over the age of 55 had the concentration in the workforce they have today; however, employers will have to plan for vacancies when this group inevitably retires, which could quickly create new skills gaps in trade vocations and STEM fields.”
