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Idaho’s aging workforce

December 27, 2008 /

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Bear Paw Development Corporation is a private non-profit organization created for the purpose of administering programs to help improve regional economic conditions in Hill, Blaine, Liberty, Chouteau and Phillips Counties and the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy's Indian Reservations.

2008 is first year some Baby Boomers qualified for Social Security

The local workforce has aged rapidly in the past three years, and while older workers may be more reliable to their employers, the specter of a worker shortage has become more vivid as 2008 marked the first year baby boomers were eligible for social security benefits.

Last year, 83,000 of Idaho’s 644,000 jobs were held by workers 55 and older. Data from the Local Employment Dynamics program, which merges labor market information with demographics, showed that 16.1 percent of Idaho’s 2007 labor force was over age 55 compared with 79,000 of the 567,000 or 14 percent of people were age 55 and above in 2004.

By PATRICK O’BRIEN
Staff writer

Full Story: http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2008/12/27/business/bus01.txt