{
  "id": "RL33661",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL33661",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 340873,
      "date": "2008-01-30",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T03:44:15.208197",
      "title": "Retiring Baby-Boomers = A Labor Shortage?",
      "summary": "The unemployment rate in 2007 averaged just 4.6%, which is low by historic standards and suggests the presence of tight labor market conditions that are related to long-running demographic trends. The oldest members of the baby-boom generation turned age 60 at the end of 2006, and every year thereafter, more of this large birth-cohort will move into the ages when workers traditionally have retired. Consequently, the business community in particular has asserted that the future supply of labor will fall short of employer demand and that U.S. economic growth and competitiveness would be put in jeopardy.\nBased upon a CRS analysis of the current employment patterns of baby-boomers across industries and occupations and of occupational employment projections within industries, many industries throughout the economy (e.g., insurance, manufacturing, mining, public administration, real estate, transportation, wholesale trade, utilities) appear to be highly dependent on baby-boom workers and to face the prospect of tightening labor market conditions as more of them move into the traditional retirement ages. Baby-boom dependent industries that seek both to replace all boomers who retire from occupations critical to their operations and to increase employment in those fields could face the most intense competition for workers in the near term (e.g., educational services and health care services).\nAn actual shortage of workers is unlikely in the long run because companies can be expected to take various actions in response to the accelerating slowdown in labor force growth\u2014although it appears few have yet done so. A key assumption of the labor shortage scenario is that firms must have more workers in the future than at present for the economy to continue to grow. Proponents of this viewpoint thus are asserting that rates of output growth and labor force growth are closely and directly linked. But, the economy historically has been able to expand faster than the labor supply by more efficiently utilizing the available pool of workers.\nAnother assumption underlying the shortage scenario is that baby-boomers will sharply curtail their work activity once in their sixties. The degree to which older persons participate in the workforce already has risen due, in part, to changes that Congress made to the Social Security retirement system and age discrimination law. Some have urged Congress to make further modifications to encourage more older individuals to continue working and more employers to hire and retain them. Similarly, Congress has been urged to further amend immigration law to permit more foreign labor to be brought into the country to fill jobs for which U.S. workers are deemed to be in short supply.\nAdditionally, those who assert that the need to replace retiring baby-boomers will result in a shortage of workers usually consider only the labor supplied by the baby-bust generation. This 45 million birth-cohort, which immediately followed the 76 million baby-boomers into the labor force, is not the only source of replacement workers: the 72 million members of the echo-boom began to enter the workforce during the 1990s. Access to foreign labor through offshore outsourcing, in addition to guest worker programs, also is often overlooked in the context of shortages.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL33661",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc809801/",
      "id": "RL33661_2007Apr24",
      "date": "2007-04-24",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Retiring Baby-Boomers = A Labor Shortage?",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
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        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20070424_RL33661_9ea18bb933717c34b92f67d5fb377c0de205531b.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Aging Policy",
    "Domestic Social Policy",
    "Economic Policy"
  ]
}