18% of U.S. Workforce May Retire Within Five Years

28% of public administration sector employees to reach retirement age

According to a new ADP Research Institute report on age and retirement benchmarks in the U.S. workforce, as much as 18% of the U.S. workforce could retire within the next five years, assuming an average retirement age of 61 years.

The six industries studied ranged from a low of 8.6% reaching retirement age in the hospitality industry to a high of 28.4% in public administration. Other industries included in the study were education (22%), manufacturing (20.6%), healthcare (20.3%), and retail (12%).

According to the CBIA/BlumShapiro 2013 Survey of Connecticut Businesses, 6% to 10% of Connecticut manufacturers surveyed expect 32% of their workforce to retire within the next five years.

“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,” says 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.”

The analysis in this report is based on aggregated, anonymous, real-world data from approximately 52,000 U.S.-based organizations comprised of about 16 million active workers. The data is from the fourth quarter of 2012.

Full study: Age and Retirement Benchmarks: Key Analytics that Drive Human Capital Management