Poll: Some Younger Workers Not Happy With Aging Workforce

An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey found U.S. workers younger than 50 were more likely to view the aging labor force negatively compared with their older peers, reports NBC Washington . Roughly 40 percent of respondents 18 to 49 and 44 percent of those 18 to 29 considered the trend bad for American workers, versus only 14 percent of respondents 60 and older. "I don't think in things like information technology and medicine you're as effective a worker at 65 years old as you are at 50," said Southern California resident Katie Otting. "If some 65-year-old is in a position that he's not ready to quit because he wants a better pension and there's someone else ready to take that job, they're not going to replace him." The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that 20 percent of Americans older than 65 were employed or actively looking for work last year, up from less than 12 percent 20 years before. A greater preponderance of older workers has led some to think seniors are hindering the nation's economic traction by staying employed. "One of the myths that's out there causing younger and older people to butt heads is the idea that 'Oh, it's because these older people are on the job preventing me from getting the job I want,'" said City University of New York Professor Steve Burghardt.