BILLY JOEL ONCE SUGGESTED THAT “ONLY THE GOOD DIE
young,” While that might be true in song lyrics, workforce statistics do
not bear it out. Good workers are staying on the job longer than ever
before. Twenty years ago, the mean age for retirement was 60 years. In
2016, it was 66.
According to a Gallup poll conducted last year, one in four workers
who have reached their 67th birthday are still on the job. The Bureau
of Labor Statistics expects that by 2022, 25 percent of the workforce will
be 55 and older. And according to U.S. Census estimates, the number of
Americans age 65 and older will hit 83.7 million in 2050. That’s nearly
double the 43. 1 million reported just five years ago.
Medical advances, insufficient savings, lack of pensions, and the potential inability of Social Security
to support a large population in retirement will all
contribute to workers staying on the job longer, both
by choice and by necessity. The situation is even more
pronounced in other parts of the world.
The Brookings Institute estimates that the median
age in Europe will increase from 37. 7 years to 52. 3
years in 2050. While in Japan, a lack of immigration
and low birth rates have created a situation where
one-third of the population is already over age 60 and
more than 12 percent is over 75. Sixty-seven percent of
people age 54 to 65 are still in the workforce in Japan,
according to a 2013 study.
Older workers are here to stay. So, as an industry,
how do we accommodate an aging workforce?
A few months ago, Senior Editor Toby Gooley and I visited Itochu
Shokuhin, a Japanese third-party company that distributes dry grocery
goods to supermarkets and convenience stores. (See our story on page
45.) The distribution facility we toured in Sagamihara City is highly
automated for a reason.
“Automation makes the work simpler, so it opens jobs up to a wider
range of workers,” says Shintaro Kakoi, logistics manager. It also makes
the work easier—especially in the case of jobs that would normally
require considerable strength. “We can now hire people who are older to
do that work because of the automation,” Kakoi adds.
The management at Itochu Shokuhin realizes that its workers are its
most important assets. They possess vast institutional knowledge that it
doesn’t want to lose. Automation keeps them able to work and protects
them from injuries caused by heavy lifting and repetitive tasks.
Last month, I wrote that automation will drive a new wave of manufacturing in the coming years. Similarly, automation in our distribution
centers will help aging employees stay productive and safe throughout
their working golden years.
bigpicture
Chief Editor
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