Between 1999 and 2002, a higher proportion of working Iowans were age 45 or over and the proportion of workers who were 65 years old and over increased slightly to 3.4 percent, the U.S. Census Bureau said today. The analysis of Iowa’s older workers is one in a series of reports based on a new Census Bureau program called Local Employment Dynamics (LED).

     The report, A Profile of Older Workers in Iowa, [PDF] highlights the age composition of Iowa’s work force, job gains and losses of older workers by industry, industries in which older workers were concentrated, and job stability and earnings of older workers.

     “States have had economic indicators for industries before, and they have had demographic characteristics of workers before,” said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. “What is unique about LED is that it shows how the work force changes each quarter within a state or substate area, in what industries the changes occur, and the characteristics of workers involved in the changes. These indicators give new insight into each state’s economy and how fluid employment is in local areas.”

     Some highlights:

• Industries where workers 65 years and over were most likely to be employed in 2002 included health services, business services and wholesale trade (nondurables).

• The average quarterly turnover rates for the top 10 employers of workers 65 years old and over were highest in business services (14.5 percent) and eating and drinking establishments (11.5 percent). The lowest were in health services (6.1 percent) and food stores (6.8 percent).

• On average, workers 65 years old and over who worked a full quarter in 2002 earned $1,474 per month compared with $2,544 per month for workers 14 and over.

• The industry with the highest average monthly earnings in 2002 for workers 65 years old and over was security and commodity brokers ($4,305), but the total number of such workers was only 115. Of the industries that employed more than 500 workers 65 years old and over, the highest paying was industrial and commercial machinery ($2,829 per month).

     Because the statistics come from a variety of sources, including state administrative records and basic demographic information, they are not directly comparable with statistics from household-based surveys such as the decennial census long form, the American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey. Industries are organized under the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. The LED program soon will move from the SIC system to the North American Industry Classification System. As in all data estimation processes, the results are subject to errors, such as those arising from data processing or incomplete records.

     Additional information about the program can be found at <http://lehd.dsd.census.gov>.

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