Newequipment 96 Industry Trends 3 Airplanes Being Built

What to Do About the Boomer Exodus

Feb. 13, 2014
In the last couple years, the long-anticipated rise in the number of baby boomers retiring from the workforce has started to take hold. Some smart manufacturers took steps to prepare for the onset of the baby-boom retirement bubble.

In the last couple years, the long-anticipated rise in the number of baby boomers retiring from the workforce has started to take hold. Some smart manufacturers took steps to prepare for the onset of the baby-boom retirement bubble.

For many years, demographers have been predicting that this current decade would bring a big surge in the number of baby boomers retiring from the workforce. Now, in the last couple years, that long-anticipated outflux has started to happen. Employees of U.S. manufacturing companies have been retiring in noticeably larger numbers as the eldest baby boomers reach age 65. And their employers are starting to feel the impact of those valued veterans walking out the factory door for the last time.

But there are smart manufacturers across the U.S. who heeded the workforce experts' warnings and took steps to prepare for the onset of the baby-boom retirement bubble. For those companies, the en masse departure of longtime employees, while still being felt, isn't hitting as hard.

Read about some companies are doing in IndustryWeek