The ‘collision of two megatrends’ will upend work over the next decade

Super Age

Some insights into an aging workforce:

The global workforce is rapidly aging, requiring both companies and employees to change what work looks like, according to a new book.

“We are witnessing the collision of two megatrends: declining birth rates and increased longevity,” Bradley Schurman, a demographic futurist and the author of the new book, “The Super Age,” told Yahoo Money.

Among people aged 75 years and older, the U.S. labor force is expected to grow by 96.5% over the next decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while the labor force of 16- to 24-year-olds is projected to shrink by 7.5% from 2020 to 2030. For those in between, it’s steady as she goes.

This demographic shift is global, too. By 2050, one in six people worldwide will be over 65 years old, up from one in 11 in 2019. In the U.S., five states have already hit the mark with one in five people over 65–Delaware, Florida, Maine, Vermont and West Virginia.

“The impact on the workplace is significant, and the added pressure of a mass exodus of older workers due to forced redundancy or retirement has really put employers on their heels,” Schurman said. “We all need to think about work in a different way.”

Schurman offered more insights and advice in a conversation with Yahoo Money. Here are the highlights of that conversation. Read the full article on Yahoo Finance.

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