The Continuing Generational Shift in the Workforce
2005 RainmakerThinking, Inc.® Analysis
|
NUMBER (in millions) |
PERCENTAGE | |
| Generation Y (born 1978-1989) | 31.5 | 21% |
| Generation X (1965-77) | 43.5 | 29.5% |
| Baby Boomers (1946-64) | 61.5 | 42% |
| Schwartzkopf Generation (born before 1946) | 11.5 | 7.5% |
| TOTAL | 148 |
NEWSFLASH
Early in 2005, the scale tipped once and for all. Together, Generation X and Generation Y now make up a majority of the workforce---50.5%. As this trend continues, the shift away from old-fashioned workplace norms will accelerate. Is your organization preparing?
NEWSFLASH
While the percentage of Gen-Xers in the workforce has remained constant since 2001 at 29.5%, Generation Y is the fastest growing segment. In the last four years, Generation Y has gone from 14% of the workforce to 21%; from 20 million workers to more than 31 million. Add to that another 17 million Americans born 1978-1989 who could participate in the labor force, but do not. Over the next five years, roughly 10 million more Gen-Yers will join the workforce (not including immigration).
By 2010, Generation Y will outnumber Generation X.
Are you prepared to recruit, motivate and retain this super high maintenance generation?
NEWSFLASH
More than 3.5 million Baby Boomers have left the workforce since 2001. Where are they all going? Some have cashed out and are laughing all the way to the golf course. Still others have been downsized, restructured, and reengineered out of jobs. Some are taking early-retirement whether they can afford it or not, and returning to the workforce in one capacity or another. Pay close attention as these Baby Boomers (and those who follow them out of the labor force) reinvent retirement in the coming years.
How will you fill the mid-level leadership gap?
NEWSFLASH
More than one million Americans, 75 years of age or older, are still active in the workforce. Another 1.4 million are ages 70 and 74 and still another 2.7 million are ages 65 to 69. Those five million workers collectively represent an incredible store of skill, knowledge, wisdom, institutional memory, relationships, and the last vestiges of the old fashioned work ethic. Well over one million workers from this age cohort have been streaming out of the workforce every year. Prepare to implement knowledge transfer and flexible retirement programs to stem the tide.
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Winning the Talent Wars® |
118th Edition - March 15, 2005 COPYRIGHT, RainmakerThinking, Inc.® http://www.rainmakerthinking.com |