How to Find Jobs with an Aging Workforce

When trying to anticipate demand for a job there are two main angles we typically consider; are employers adding new jobs therefore needing more workers, or is there a significant need for workers to fill vacancies left by retirees and those changing careers?  Emsi Burning Glass’s Openings number combines these two and presents a number reflecting both job growth and replacement needs.

Those replacement needs are modeled from national surveys, and some local dynamics and eccentricities can get lost in the shuffle. In addition to using the Openings number, you can also look at your region’s specific workforce demographic makeup to see how close certain groups are to retirement. In this example we’ll look for aging workers by industry, but the same workflow can be used to look at the occupation level.

1. From the homepage, click Industries
2. Click Industry Table
3. Under “Select Industries” select All Available
4. Under “Select a Region” enter the region you’d like to use. We’ll look at the Cincinnati MSA here.
5. Under “Select the data you would like to display” click Custom Data Selection
   1. Under “Jobs” select Current Year
   2. Under “Demographics” open the menu next to Age and select Age 55-64 and Age 65+
   3. Also under “Demographics” open the menu for Age % of Industry and select Age 55-64 % of Industry and Age 65+ % of Industry
6. Click Select, then click Run
7. In the table that loads click on the column Age 55-64 % of Industry to sort by industries with a large share of workers approaching retirement.

As always, use your judgment and local knowledge when analyzing the numbers. For example, in Cincinnati the industry with the highest percentage of workers nearing retirement is Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas, with 40% of workers aged 55-64. However, there are only 30 jobs currently in the industry. A situation with such a small number of workers likely needs a more hands on approach involving contacting the employers in Cincinnati to flesh out the details.