Ne ws from E B R I th 1100 13 St. NW ? Suite 878 ? Washington, DC 20005 (202) 659-0670 ? www.ebri.org ? Fax: (202) 775-6312 DATE: May 22, 2018 CONTACT: Sara Bridwell, EBRI Media Relations – bridwell@ebri.org Craig Copeland, author – copeland @ebri.org Aging Baby Boomers are Continuing to Impact the Composition of the American Labor Force WASHINGTON – New research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) shows that the baby-boom generation has created a wave of sorts moving through the American labor force for the last four decades. As boomers have entered each age demographic, that group has become the largest component of the population and of the labor force. Now, as the last of the Baby Boomers enter their mid 50s, and as they are living longer than prior generations, their impact on the age of the American population and labor force is unmistakable. “While the portion of the total labor force ages 55 or older continued to increase since 2007, the uptick has been primarily attributable to the continued aging of the baby boom generation into these ages, and not to an increasing percentage of older workers remaining in the labor force.,” said Craig Copeland, author of the new report, “Labor Force Participation Rates by Age and Gender and the Age and Gender Composition of the U.S. Civilian Labor Force and Adult Population,” available here. Copeland notes that the next large wave of workers, millennials, have not yet all reached working age, but as they do, and as Baby Boomers continue to remain in the labor force, employers and plan sponsors will face interesting challenges created by a large older population, a large younger population and comparatively fewer workers in between. The Employee Benefit Research Institute is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit research institute based in Washington, DC, that focuses on health, savings, retirement, and financial security issues. EBRI does not lobby and does not take policy positions. The work of EBRI is made possible by funding from its members and sponsors, which include a broad range of public, private, for-profit and nonprofit organizations. For more information go to www.ebri.org or visit the web site of EBRI’s affiliated American Savings Education Council at www.asec.org ### 1212 EBRI on Twitter: @EBRI or http://twitter.com/EBRI EBRI RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/EBRI-RSS