By Jeff DeMoss

Mar. 16, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
After a 35-year career in public education, Alice Shepard is glad to be taking on a new set of tasks.

"Spending time with the grandkids, mostly," the newly retired Ogden resident said. "I'll be doing a lot more gardening this year, too."

Shepard is one of the millions of baby boomers who have already reached retirement age, or are getting ready (OTCBB:GTRY) to enter the post-career phase of life.

As more workers kick their feet up after a lifetime of labor, employers are scrambling to replace a large number of experienced, skilled and knowledgeable workers.

A recent survey of executives across the United States found that nearly half, 47 percent, believe baby boomer retirements will have a larger impact on the American work force than any other single factor over the next decade.

"The looming retirement of baby boomers has captured the attention of business leaders," said Max Messmer, chairman and chief executive of Robert Half International, the California-based staffing firm that developed the survey.

"They're concerned about retaining the expertise of their most tenured employees," Messmer said.

The term baby boomer generally refers to those born in the United States from 1946 to 1964, the prosperous years following World War II. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that 76 million people were born during that time.

Utah's demographics are different from the nation, including the timing of its baby booms, said Pam Perlich, senior research economist at the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

Nationwide, an "echo boom," or another wave of births resulting from the original boomers having children, peaked in 1990, Perlich said. That means an unusually large number of people in the U.S. will be entering college this year.

Utah's original boom wasn't as dramatic as the national picture, but instead shows a gradual increase, with the state's largest boom coming in the early 1980s.

"Our baby boom was slow in getting going," Perlich said, "and then there was no big bust, just a small break in the action."

Utah, where people tend to have children at earlier ages, is now in the midst of a second echo boom. But homegrown additions to the labor force will be relatively small for the next eight to 10 years, Perlich said.

In the meantime, she said people from other states and countries will be especially critical to filling Utah's labor needs, especially with older people living longer and making up a larger percentage of the population.

"If we don't have people moving in from out of state, we have a labor force that is flat or declining," she said.

In manufacturing-heavy Weber County, employers are already suffering from a shortage of new recruits in machining and related professions. The loss of experienced workers to retirement compounds the problem, making the plight of local manufacturers all the more urgent.

"They're getting hit from both sides," said Thomas Bingham, president of the Utah Manufacturers Association. "There are more people leaving, and not enough people coming in."

That has manufacturers increasingly relying on workers from outside the state, Bingham said.

The vast majority of Utah's work force is concentrated in the four major counties along the Wasatch Front -- Salt Lake, Utah, Davis and Weber.

But that doesn't mean rural counties aren't feeling the pressures and uncertainties of a changing work force, said Lecia Langston, an economist for the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

In rural parts of the state, baby boomers make up at least a third of the total work force in several major sectors, including manufacturing, transportation and trade.

About half of those currently employed in education in rural areas are baby boomers, and 63 percent of rural utility workers fall under the category.

In fact, the nonurban parts of the state are probably the most vulnerable, Langston said. Boomer retirements in areas with smaller local labor pools are more likely to have immediate impacts on education, utilities and other basic services, she said.

"It just may be time for someone besides the boomers themselves to start planning for their retirement," she said.

Many studies show that people are working later in life. Retirements at the traditional age of 62 are becoming more difficult to find, especially in the private sector, Messmer said.

But the fact remains that a massive chunk of the American labor force is getting ready to call it quits, and companies that offer flexible work options, such as consulting or part-time work, will be able to lessen the impact, he said.

"Businesses that accommodate valued staff members who are not ready for retirement, but seek new work arrangements, are best able to keep top performers," he said.

Of course, delaying retirement for a few years only postpones the inevitable brain drain. The key to maintaining a strong work force is getting through to the younger generations, Bingham said.

"We need to pass the knowledge on and get these kids engaged. These are transitional times that will test the strength of the American economy."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0146-23894335