Future skill shortages in the U.S. economy?

David Neumark, Hans Johnson and Marisol Cuellar Mejia

Economics of Education Review, 2013, vol. 32, issue C, 151-167

Abstract: The impending retirement of the baby boom cohort represents the first time in the history of the United States that such a large and well-educated group of workers will exit the labor force. This could imply skill shortages in the U.S. economy. We develop near-term labor force projections of the educational demands on the workforce and the supply of workers by education to assess the potential for skill imbalances to emerge. Based on our formal projections, we see little likelihood of skill shortages emerging by the end of this decade. More tentatively, though, skill shortages are more likely as all of the baby boomers retire in later years, and skill shortages are more likely in the near-term in states with large and growing immigrant populations.

Keywords: Education; Skill; Shortages; Aging (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 J1 J2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Future Skill Shortages in the U.S. Economy? (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:32:y:2013:i:c:p:151-167

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2012.09.004

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