title: Job demands and work ability at older ages.
abstract: Workers' ability to delay retirement depends partly on the demands of their jobs. Matching occupational characteristics from the Occupational Information Network to Current Population Survey respondents, this study finds that 7% of American workers held highly physically demanding jobs in 2006 and 35% held highly cognitively demanding jobs. The share of the workforce in physically demanding jobs fell by about one-sixth between 1971 and 2006, while the share in cognitively demanding jobs increased by more than one-third. The decline in physically demanding occupations will likely improve employment prospects for older adults, but the growth in cognitive demands may limit options for some older workers.
authors.affiliation: The Urban Institute, Washington, DC 20037, USA. rjohnson@urban.org
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Gordon B T
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Mermin
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Resseger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D003071:Cognition; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007587:Job Description; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D005082:Physical Exertion; D012179:Retirement; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors