American Workers Are Older Than Ever

The U.S. workforce has never been older. The share of workers ages 55 and over hit 22.2 percent in July, according to data released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the highest since record-keeping began in 1948.

As this first chart shows, older workers’ share of the workforce briefly dipped below 12 percent in the early 1990s but has risen steeply ever since. The population bulge of the baby boom is the big factor, of course. The peak birth year of the baby boom was 1957. Those peak boomers, no longer babies, reached age 55 in 2012—the first year older workers’ share of employment hit 21 percent.

Full article - http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-08-04/a-record-22-dot-2-percent-of-of-u-dot-s-dot-workers-are-55-or-older#r=hp-sf