A Look at the Workforce's Older Side

In its recently released report on the outlook for federal information technology jobs, the federal Chief Information Officers Council says it is difficult to estimate just how many federal employees will retire in the coming years because the aging Baby Boomers (those 45 to 54 years old, a group that makes up 60 percent of all government IT workers) are delaying retiring. The reasons are a longer life expectancy and an economic recession that reduced retirement accounts and home equity, according to the report.

But the number of retirees has surprised the Social Security Administration, which reported that there was a 20 percent increase in retirement applications in 2009. The agency was expecting a 15 percent increase.

"That's a significant amount," SSA's Chief Economist Jason Fichtner told National Public Radio.

The reason for the higher number of retirees seems to be the inability of older workers, those over 60 years old or so, to find work after being laid off.

You would expect a similar phenomenon to not affect the federal government, which basically cannot lay off workers and has less than 1 percent of its IT workforce age 60 years and older. But you wonder if any of those older workers who can't find jobs may be form the IT industry and have the skills that government is looking for.