Study finds Montana has highest percentage of senior employees

A new study by the AARP spells out the benefits of businesses hiring older employees for job openings, including higher work ethic and lower turnover.

According to AARP’s study, hiring workers aged 50 and older does not lead to significant increases in employment costs. Changes in benefit programs have led to a move to even distribution of the costs of employees, and the study concluded that hiring older workers may end up increasing labor costs by only one to two percent. It also found that workers aged 50 and above have a 29 percent chance of unexpected turnover, as opposed to 49 percent for lower-aged employees.

Steve Reiter, senior operations specialist with AARP Montana, said one of the factors for Montana’s high senior employment rate is that many people leave Montana after finishing school to take better-paying jobs out of state, and only return to Montana later in life.

DILLON KATO For the Independent Record

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