Census shows graying Idaho workforce
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 10:36 AM PST
COEUR D’ALENE, (AP) — Idaho’s work force is getting grayer.
A U.S. Census Bureau report released last week shows 83,000 of Idaho’s 644,000 workers — a little more than 16 percent — were 55 years or older in 2007, an increase of 2 percent from 2004 and 4 percent compared with 2001 figures.
Jobs with the biggest percentage of older workers include education and utilities, sectors where workers 55 and older make up more than 25 percent of the work force. State labor and economics officials say the percentage of older workers should continue to grow in the short term.
‘‘People are healthier and staying in the labor force longer partly out of choice, and then over time we’ll see more people stay in the labor force because there are fewer people receiving pension benefits,’’ Kathryn Tacke, regional state economist for the Idaho Department of Labor, told The Coeur d’Alene Press. The report also found that the number of workers who continue working beyond the traditional retirement age of 65 is also increasing, rising from 2.3 percent of the work force in 2001 to 3.2 percent last year.
