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Older workers aren’t a drain on company profits or productivity, a new study found.
Faced with conflicting and outdated studies that gave mixed reviews of older workers, researchers at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College set out to assess the real impact of older workers on their workplace.
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What the researchers found should relieve hiring managers’ concerns and obliterate outdated stereotypes.
“The prevailing view was that older workers are not as productive as younger workers. That’s not what we found,” said Gal Wettstein, senior research economist at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
“We don’t find any evidence that they are a drain on profitability,” Wettstein said. “When it came to productivity, we don’t find a consistent negative productivity association.”
The study comes as older adults are working longer — some by choice and some by necessity — and represent a larger portion of the workforce.
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Between 2000 and 2020, the share of employed workers ages 60 and over doubled among both men and women, according to the National Institute of Health. The percentage of all employed men aged 60 or older rose to 14.8% from 7.4% in that time frame, while among all employed women, the percentage rose to 14% from 6.3%.
By 2024, the total labor force will be about 164 million people, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects. That number will include about 41 million people 55 and older, and, of those, about 13 million who are expected to be ages 65 and older.
The labor-force-growth rates of those 55 years and older are projected to outpace all other age groups from 2020 to 2030, according to BLS. The 75-year-old and older cohort is projected to have a growth rate of 96.5%, while the growth rate of the 55-year-old to 74-year-old age group is expected to grow by 7.7%, BLS said.
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Asked about the real-world impact of the study, Wettstein said companies should be relieved.
“If you’re a hiring manager for a firm, this study should give more confidence that hiring older adults won’t be bad for business,” Wettstein said.
Read: It’s a brave new workplace: How to close the generation gap among workers
Of course, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 protects applicants and employees 40 years of age and older from discrimination based on age in hiring, promotion, discharge, compensation, or terms, conditions or privileges of employment.
“People face discrimination, which is against the law, but it exists,” Wettstein said. “There’s discrimination in hiring older workers. This study should allay concerns about such hiring.”
Read: As older workers begin to outnumber younger ones, here’s how companies and governments can adapt
Older workers tend to have a strong work ethic, take fewer days off and have vast business knowledge and experience, according to Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. They also play a crucial role in mentoring younger generations.
“We’re encouraged by the fact that we didn’t find any strong negative effects. Society is getting older and it’s good news if we can find evidence that it’s not a burden or calamity for society,” Wettstein said.
