Last week, we began a series exploring characteristics of older employees in the Atlanta region Our first blog in the series revealed that Metro Atlanta has a number of industry sectors that are especially likely to see waves of retirement in the next decade or so– as the workforce ages. NAICS sectors 31-33 (Manufacturing), 61 (Educational Services), 42 (Wholesale Trade), and 92 (Public Administration) have relatively high shares of workers aged 55 and over, each well above the overall average of 21.8%. Sector 62 (Healthcare and Social Assistance) has the most workers close to retirement, with 7,400 ages 55 and over. We also saw that employment sectors 51 (Information), 71 (Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation), and 72 (Accommodation and Food Services) all have relatively small percentages of workers nearing retirement.

What do the trends look like for sectors with particular concentrations of jobs held by those aged 55 and up? Has the workforce in these sectors always trended older than across the workforce overall, or are these sectors aging faster than the general labor force? To answer these questions, we again turn to the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI) data.[1]

Figure 1 below shows the percentage of workers in NAICS sector 62 (Healthcare and Social Assistance) from 1998 to 2023 who are ages 55 and over, as compared with the overall percentage of all workers aged 55 and up.

Figure 1: Change 1998-2023, Healthcare and Social Assistance Workers Aged 55 and Up (Source: QWI)

Consistent with the aging of the population as a whole, the share of older workers in all industries has increased from about 9.9% in 1998 to 22.3% in 2023. The share of Healthcare and Social Assistance workers ages 55 and over has always been a bit higher than for all workers, but the gap between the two has grown fairly steadily since 2004.[2]

Figure 2 as follows presents the change over time for NAICS 72 (Accommodation and Food Services), one of the sectors previously noted as having a lower percentage of older workers:

Figure 2: Change in Share 1998-2023, Accommodation and Food Services: Workers Aged 55 and Up (Source: QWI)

Though the worker profile in all sectors– including NAICS 72– is aging, the trend line in N72 is much flatter– the gap between the proportion of workers in this sector nearing retirement age and the overall percentage has grown in the other direction over the past quarter century.[3]

We thus see that Atlanta’s workforce is aging at different rates in different sectors, which  has implications for our region’s future labor needs.  We can address these regional needs either by building talent here, or by attracting it from other parts of the country. So how does Atlanta compare to other top metros with this workforce, across these sectors? We’ll examine this question in Episode #3!

Footnotes for Episode #2

[1] Though QWI data provide us with quarterly data, we will utilize only a single quarter’s data from each year (for Q2) in order to weed out seasonal effects.

[2] The trend line for NAICS sector 62 is steeper (the percentage of workers ages 55 and over grows about .57 each year) than the overall trend (increasing about .52 each year).

[3] The percentage of workers ages 55 and over for NAICS sector 72 has grown about .31 per year.