What are age-friendly jobs?

age-friendly jobs (noun)

Employment that involves less physical exertion, greater use of social and communication skills, and milder environmental conditions compared to other jobs.

The American workforce is getting older. In 1990, one in five workers was older than 50. Today, it’s one in three.

There’s also been a rise in age-friendly jobs. A paper co-authored by MIT professor Daron Acemoglu found that between 1990 and 2020, around three-quarters of occupations became more suitable for older workers. Older employees prioritize shorter commutes, using communication skills, reduced job stress, moderate levels of physical activity, and flexible schedules, according to the researchers.

In 2020, the most age-friendly jobs included guides, ticket agents, proofreaders, insurance investigators, and human resources and labor relations managers. The least age-friendly jobs included carpentry, masonry, cement work, and painting.

But there’s a twist: Most age-friendly jobs aren’t going to older workers. Despite a 33.1 million increase in employment in the most age-friendly occupations, less than half of those jobs went to workers over 50. Younger workers prize some of the same work characteristics as older workers, the researchers write, and older workers might be reluctant to segue from existing jobs into age-friendlier ones.

But age-friendly jobs going to older workers is an important goal. Reducing the potential harmful effects of work for older people “should lead to greater involvement in the labor market for older workers, a key policy objective in an aging society,” the researchers write.

The rise of age-friendly jobs — and what employers need to know