Abstract
About 7 percent of American workers
held highly physically demanding jobs in 2006, and 35 percent held highly cognitively
demanding jobs. The share of the workforce in physically demanding jobs fell
by about one-sixth between 1971 and 2006, while the share in cognitively demanding
jobs increased by more than one-third. Stressful occupations also grew rapidly
over the past 35 years. The decline in physically demanding occupations will
likely improve employment prospects for older adults, but the growth in cognitive
demands may limit options for some older people, especially those with limited
education.
Introduction
The economic burden of an aging population
depends on the employment decisions of older adults. If workers continue to
retire at the relatively young ages that have become the norm over the past
generation, then the aging of the baby boomers will reduce the number of people
working and paying taxes for every older person collecting retirement and health
benefits. Workers may have to pay higher taxes to support more retirees, employers
may face labor shortages (particularly in selected industries), retirement benefits
will likely be cut, and per capita economic output will fall. However, if people
choose to work longer, the economy can produce more goods and services, boosting
living standards for both workers and nonworkers and generating additional tax
revenue to fund all kinds of government services. The crucial question, then,
is whether older people will respond to the coming demographic challenges by
working longer and retiring later.
Job attributes are important factors
in the retirement decision. Positions that require heavy lifting, crouching,
or stooping; standing for long periods; or other types of physically exhausting
work are generally ill-suited for older workers, who often choose to retire
early from these jobs if possible. Some older workers are forced to leave physically
demanding jobs early when they develop health problems. Cognitively demanding
work may be better suited for older people than physically demanding work, but
probably not for those with limited education. Jobs that impose constant time
pressures and require fast-paced work may be considered stressful and undesirable
employment options by some older adults.
Changes over time in the nature of
work have important implications for the employment prospects of older people.
Older workers may be more likely to delay retirement if work is becoming less
physically demanding. On the other hand, increases over time in work intensity
may push some workers into early retirement. Better information is needed about
the current distribution of job demands and how those demands are changing.
This report describes the job demands
faced by workers today, the changes over time in job demands, and the impact
of those changes on the employability of older workers. We linked job characteristics
data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration
(ETA) to the Current Population Survey (CPS) to calculate the proportion of
workers facing various types of job demands in 2006 and 1971. Employment projections
were used to estimate the prevalence of job demands in 2014 and in 2041. The
job attributes that we considered included physical demands, nonphysical demands,
and difficult workplace conditions. We also examined how job demands varied
by demographic characteristics, including gender, educational attainment, race,
and age.
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