Productive challenges and opportunities in work and retirement: background from the United States

The United States is witnessing dramatic increases in the aging population where one out of five of the approximate 309 million persons will be aged 65 and over within the next year based on increases in life expectancy and decreases in fertility replacement rates, the eldest members of the boomer generation (those born between 1946 and 1964) turning 65 in 2011, and improvements in health. Both challenges and opportunities exist for a multigenerational workforce in the future. Opportunities for elders remaining in or returning to the workforce are anticipated, and traditional retirement will be altered given that 80% of baby boomers, as cited in the National Institute on Aging's Health and Retirement Study, are expect to work past traditional retirement age. Population aging has vast political, social and economic realities for the United States and for the global community. Demographic trends, implications for the US workforce, and recommendations from institutes and organizations as leaders in promoting productive aging are provided as a means to seize upon the opportunities for action that are embedded in many of the challenges faced by the aging society of the United States.