Future of Work consortium

There's a good article on today's San Francisco Chronicle about how more and more people are working well beyond age 65 ("More Americans at work in retirement years - especially in Bay Area")

This is a pattern we've been tracking and reporting on for some time, so it's no surprise to me. But it's worth noting that the evidence is building:

Almost 1 in 4 people between the ages of 65 and 74 nationally - 23 percent - were still in the labor force in 2006, up from close to 1 in 5 at the beginning of the decade, according to data released by the Census Bureau today in its American Community Survey. In the Bay Area, 25 percent of people in that age group were working, up from 21 percent in 2000.

"People are healthier, they want to remain engaged in the community, and they find fulfillment through employment - that's the good news," said Jean Ross, director of the California Budget Project, based in Sacramento. "The bad news is, there are people who don't have the financial resources to live without working, and they need the supplemental income to make ends meet. There are two distinct trends going on."

Actually there is a third factor at work that the article only mentions in passing: the growing talent shortage in the United States (and other countries too). Companies are more than willing to keep older workers employed for the simple reason that there aren't enough younger people to replace them. 70 million Boomers will reach "retirement" age in the next five years - and the numbers coming up behind them are much, much smaller.

Watch out corporate America - you'd better learn how to recruit, attract, and retain older part-time workers as well as all those younger folks you seem so focused on.