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Boomer Retirements Pull Down Productivity

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Think about the concept of retirement for a minute. A person works their entire life, gains massive amounts of valuable experience, becomes extremely productive, and then checks out at the peak of their career. Odd is it not? But given expected life spans, and what it costs to save for the Golden Years, this is how it’s done. The problem today is, the Baby Boomer generation is such a big, productive part of the economy, that as these older workers retire, they leave a massive skills and productivity gap in their wake.

Research from RAND Corp. says Boomer retirements will even lower GDP expectations for years. Bloomberg’s Jeanna Smialek reports:

The retirement of baby-boomers in the decade between 2010 and 2020 will lower GDP growth per capita by 1.2 percentage point a year from what would have been the case if the nation’s demographics had held steady, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research study out this week. The bright side is that the dent is only half as deep between 2020 and 2030 as the pace of aging slows.

The study is based on a simple idea: population aging is already long underway and has been playing out with varying degrees of intensity across different regions of the country. By looking at variations in state population aging, authors Nicole Maestas at Harvard Medical School, and Kathleen Mullen and David Powell at policy research group RAND Corporation, are able to estimate how a graying workforce affects output, participation rates and productivity.

You can see in the figure from the report below that the proportion of America’s population aged over 60 has increased substantially since 1900, and is projected to increase much more by 2050. Barring some policy change or demographic explosion, America could be facing years of reduced productivity to come. Read the full report here.

population aging

Take a look at what can happen when population pyramids lose their shape.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.