Nearly 1 in 5 Workers May Retire within Five Years, Reports ADP

 In a new report entitled “Age and Retirement Benchmarks: Key Analytics that Drive Human Capital Management,” the ADP Research Institute has found that, assuming an average retirement age of 61, as many as 18 percent of U.S. workers may retire within the next years. Six industries were represented in the study including manufacturing, healthcare, education, public administration, hospitality, and retail. Of these industries, the number of individuals reaching retirement age within the next five years ranged from 9 percent in the hospitality industry up to 28 percent in public administration.

“While there is no guarantee that everyone who reaches the average retirement age will actually stop working, our research indicates several industries could be facing a significant loss of skilled talent over the next five years,” stated Ahu Yildirmaz, Sr. Director – Market Insights at the ADP Research Institute. “Retirement data provides a critical glimpse into the future of a company’s workforce. Businesses will want to assess how their own workforces compare to the averages and consider strategies for recruitment and training in order to replace the significant loss of knowledge, experience and company culture that can be expected.”

Average age across the studied industries varied greatly with ages in public administration and healthcare services generally being highest at 47 and 43, respectively. This may indicate a potential large number of employees leaving the workforce in these industries over the next five years. The youngest industries were hospitality and retail with average ages at 34 and 36, respectively.