Congressional Office of Compliance Future of Safety and Health in an Aging Workforce October 26, 2010

Some Unknowns: 21^st Century Workforce

Immigration

• Will nations change policies to encourage or discourage immigration?
• Will wage competition increase?

Outsourcing

• Does it portend a global workforce?
• How do employers taken on global health issues?

Re-careering

• Will more workers remain in the workforce and take on an “encore” career?
• Who will manage associated chronic health conditions?
• Will hurdles to continued work at older ages be removed?

Selected Workforce Challenges

• Limited availability of workers
• Chronologically gifted
• Health-challenged younger workers
• Innovative Employment Arrangements
• Global Competition for Workers
• Encore Careers vs. Retiremen
• Age-Related Challenges for Occupational Health and Safety
• Social Benefits & Age Discrimination
• Responsibility for the Health of Workers

Growing Shortage of U.S. Workers

Expected Labor Force and Labor Force Demand

Screeching to a Halt: Growth in the Working-Age Population

Source: Employment Policy Foundation analysis and projections of Census/BLS and BEA data.

Dramatically Different Patterns of Growth by Age

Source: Deloitte Research/UN Population Division (https://esa.un.org/unpp/) It’s 2008: Do You Know Where Your Talent Is? Why Acquisition and Retention Strategies Don’t Work, p.6

Dramatically Different Patterns of Growth by Age

Percent Growth in U.S. Population by Age: 2000-2010

Declining number of mid-career workers

Source: U.S. Census Bureau. 2000

What is health?

Am I healthy?
Do I care if others in my life are healthy?
What influences my health?
Where do I go for help with my health?
How can I change my health?
I’ve Lost my health, now what?

Health challenges of the younger, older and those sandwiched between

Diabesity and the Future Workforce

• 39 States with 40% of young adults considered to be overweight or obese in just last decade!
  • In Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi, >50% young adults are overweight
• Medical Consequences:
  • High Blood Pressure
  • High Fats in the Blood
  • Type 2 Diabetes (formerly called adult-onset)
  • Hepatic steatosis epidemic (fat deposits in the liver)
  • Sleep apnea (too much fat around the upper airway)
• Psychological stress
• Musculoskeletal disorders
  • what the old and the young worker share