Why the US science and engineering workforce is aging rapidly

Significance The science and engineering workforce has aged rapidly, both absolutely and relative to the workforce, which is a concern if the large number of older scientists crowds out younger scientists. Moreover, scientists are believed to be most creative earlier in their careers, so the aging of the workforce may slow the pace of scientific progress. We study the causes of this aging, showing that a substantial majority is a result of the aging of the large baby boom cohort of scientists, but the elimination of mandatory retirement in universities in 1994 was also an important factor. Strikingly, current patterns imply a steady-state mean age 2.3 y higher than the 2008 level of 48.6.