Which Industries Have the Oldest Workers?

Prompted by Paul Tosto’s MinnEcon blog, we looked at all 20 broad-level industry groups to see which have the highest share of workers 55 years and older. The answer? Educational services, public administration, real estate, and utilities.

In those four industries, at least 23% of workers in the US are 55-plus — in other words, nearing retirement age. Education is tops with 26%, while accommodation & food services is lowest with 10%.

When you add the 45-54 age group to the 55-and-above category, utilities rises to the top, at 57%, followed by public admin (53%), education (52%), and manufacturing (51%). The chart below gives a breakdown of the top 10, and we’ve included data for all 20 industries below.

Click on chart for larger image.

The source for this data is the US Census Bureau’s LEHD program and its Quarterly Workforce Indicators, which blend demographic information with industry statistics. [1. Data for three states — Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire — and the District of Columbia were not available at the time of the analysis through the LEHD program.] These figures are current as of the first quarter 2010.

Here are a few other takeaways from the tables below:

• As we mentioned earlier, utilities has the biggest percentage of 45-plus workers — and it also has the largest distribution of 45-54 year old workers (34%). We did a state-by-state breakdown of the age of utility workers last year.
• The utilities’ workforce might be aging, but there’s a definite drop-off once workers reach 65. Among the 65-and-older category, utilities has the smallest share, at 2%, among all industries. This suggests the physical rigors of the industry are too much once workers reach a certain age.
• The crush of baby boomer retirements in health care — given the eventual trend away from people hanging on in the workforce — looks to be a concern … eventually. This Census data shows 41% of health care and social assistance workers are between 45-64.

Industry	Distribution of Workers 45-54	Distribution of Workers 55-64	Distribution of Workers 65 & above
Utilities	34%	21%	2%
Public Administration	29%	19%	5%
Educational Services	26%	21%	5%
Manufacturing	30%	18%	3%
Transportation and Warehousing	28%	17%	4%
Mining	27%	17%	3%
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing	24%	16%	7%
Wholesale Trade	27%	16%	4%
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting	23%	14%	8%
Other Services (except Public Administration)	23%	16%	6%
Health Care and Social Assistance	25%	16%	4%
Management of Companies and Enterprises	26%	15%	3%
Construction	26%	13%	4%
Finance and Insurance	24%	14%	3%
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services	23%	14%	4%
Information	23%	13%	3%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services	21%	13%	5%
Retail Trade	19%	12%	5%
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation	19%	12%	5%
Accommodation and Food Services	14%	7%	3%

Here is the above data aggregated into two overarching categories (55+ and 45+).

Industry	Distribution of Workers 55+	Distribution of Workers 45+
Utilities	23%	57%
Public Administration	24%	53%
Educational Services	26%	52%
Manufacturing	21%	51%
Transportation and Warehousing	21%	49%
Mining	20%	47%
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing	23%	47%
Wholesale Trade	20%	47%
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting	22%	45%
Other Services (ex. Public Admin.)	22%	45%
Health Care and Social Assistance	20%	45%
Management of Companies and Enterprises	18%	44%
Construction	17%	43%
Finance and Insurance	17%	41%
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services	18%	41%
Information	16%	39%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services	18%	39%
Retail Trade	17%	36%
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation	17%	36%
Accommodation and Food Services	10%	24%