Older Workers Taking Most of the New Jobs

Looking at the February 2005 government employment figures showing that employment by workers over age 55 rose by 152,000, Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, says that that older workers continue to be the only group experiencing substantial employment gains in this economy. In fact, workers over age 55 accounted for over half--918,000 of the 1,810,000--of the rise in employment shown in the household survey over the past twelve months. Baker suggests that "[r]ising health care costs, coupled with 401(k)s that are still far below their pre-stock-market-crash peaks, seem to be the driving factor in record employment growth among older workers."

Source: Jobs Byte Center for Economic and Policy Research (March 4, 2005)