It’s a trend no healthy organization wants to see — a workforce that grows progressively older every year, with diminishing appeal for talented young people.

That’s the position the federal government is in today. The number of workers over 60 is almost double the population under 30.

It’s a problem, said University of Texas Professor Donald Kettl, because it’s not just about replacing the older workers, but replacing them with, “a different kind of workforce for the future” — one prepared to manage in the age of social media and data analytics.

According to the most recent federal workforce data from the Office of Personnel Management, as of June 2018, 14% of the federal workforce is over 60, while just 7.8% is under 30 (out of a population of 2,099,149). Twenty years ago, the over-60 population represented 5.7% of the workforce, while 7.5% of the workforce was under 30.

The chart below illustrates the problem (Government Executive did not include data for workers under 20).

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2019/08/aging-federal-workforce-needs-new-blood-experts-say/159585/