Aging in San Francisco

America’s population is aging. Older individuals are living longer and therefore have a longer amount of time to enjoy retirement. But what about the empty positions they will leave behind them?
In San Francisco, the fasted growing age group is those nearing and those who are already elderly. According to a report done by the Local Workforce Investment Board of San Francisco, 13 percent of the city’s workforce was 55 or older at the time of the last census. These individuals have either already reached the age of retirement or will reach it by 2010.
The two industries this will affect the most are those of education and health care. With many older San Franciscans working these fields there is some concerns about the number of employees that will be needed to replace those who will soon decide to leave work behind and no longer search San Francisco jobs. The report found that school administrators, teachers from elementary to high school, and special education teachers all tend to be older than the average working individual.

This means that there will be many empty classrooms if enough new graduates don’t decide to be educators. In the health care industry many advanced occupations will be empty. These include medical service managers, registered nurses, clinical lab tech, and LVNs. Hopefully many of the currently young medical assistants will be able to fill these positions. For those who are entry level health care employees filling jobs in San Francisco, there will certainly be an availability of promotions with in the next few years.
The aging and retirement of 13 percent of the workforce will least affect the information technology and the hospitality industry. Even highly skilled positions in these two areas tend to be occupied by younger San Franciscans. With an abundance of youthful entry level workers, those positions that do become available when others retire will quickly be filled. If one desires to later replace their older superior, it is in their best interest to work toward good performance evaluations now. The competitions for the few coveted spots will be competitive.
There is also some concern about finding individuals to replace soon to be retiring office administrators and social service workers. The expected exodus toward retirement may cause a worker shortage in San Francisco in both fields if younger employees are recruited by human resources and trained for these positions in advance.
Hoping to avoid afore mentioned shortages, San Francisco plans to focus on attracting younger workers both to specific fields and to the city in general. The city also encourages promotions from within the industries to fulfill higher positions. The San Francisco Local Workforce Investment Board also believes that immigrant integration is extremely important at this time. According Hans Johnson of the Public Policy Institute of California, “much of tomorrow’s workforce are today’s second generation children of immigrants.”