Economist Says Generational Shift Creating Workforce Imbalance

Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Indeed, said baby boomers are retiring at a pace that younger generations cannot match. She described the situation as a "great mismatch" during a panel at Fortune's Workplace Innovation Summit. Gudell stated that workers aged 55 and older will make up more than 25 percent of the workforce in Group of Seven countries by 2031.

That figure is about 10 percentage points higher than in 2011, according to an analysis from Bain.

U.S. workforce. U.S. Census Bureau data show that workers 55 and older have been the fastest-growing age group in the labor force for more than two decades and accounted for nearly a quarter of the workforce in 2022. In the utilities sector, employees aged 55 and older made up 80 percent of the workforce in 2022.

Manufacturing and wholesale trade each had older workers comprising 40 percent of their headcounts.

Schmitt, chief people officer at PepsiCo, said the company is using automation to handle roles that younger workers are less willing to fill. , with younger people in other countries also preferring different career paths. A 2024 Lightcast report found that, for the first time in modern history, people aged 65 and older will outnumber 16-year-olds in the workforce.

OECD research projects that the working-age population in many developed countries will decline through 2060.