A new information source, the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) program for Missouri, shows:

• The workforce is aging. From 1995 through 2002, an increasing percentage of the workforce was 45 years and older. The proportion of people 65 years and older who continue working has also increased, but slightly.
• Industries in which more than 1-in-5 workers were 55 years and older in 2002 include: local/suburban transit and real estate. Of these, the real estate industry employed more than 5,000 older workers.
• An example of an industry with a high turnover rate for workers 55 years and older is business services.
• An example of an industry with a low turnover rate for older workers is health services.
• Industries where workers 65 years and over are most likely to be employed include health services, business services, and eating and drinking places.
• On average, in 2002, for workers 65 years and over, 4,310 jobs were created and 6,326 were lost.
• Of the industries that employed more than 500 workers 65 years and older, the highest paying was legal services ($4,122 a month). The industry with the highest average monthly earnings in 2002 for workers 65 years and older was security/commodity brokers ($6,430), but the number of such workers was only 388.