Boom in retiring boomers looms - and soon
Regional summit deals with issues as Minnesota braces for the coming wave
The baby boomers are no longer babies.
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In less than four years, baby boomers - those born between 1946-64 - will begin to turn 65 and dominate the demographics, according to state aging officials.
In 2005, there were 620,000 seniors 65 years or older in Minnesota, and this number is anticipated to rise to 1.3 million by 2030, representing 20 percent of the state's population. With this large influx of senior citizens, state officials are preparing for the challenges that will occur.
More than 90 Brainerd lakes areas residents who work with seniors in some fashion attended a Catch the Wave regional summit last week at Bethany Good Samaritan Campus in Brainerd. The summit was one of 18 scheduled in Minnesota in a statewide initiative called Transform 2010, which works on transforming policies, infrastructures and services to prepare Minnesota for the coming wave, which begins in 2011 when the first baby boomers turn 65.
LaRhae Grindal Knatterud, director of aging transformation with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, said Minnesota has to prepare for the new wave of baby boomers. Knatterud spoke at a Catch the Wave regional summit last week at Bethany Good Samaritan Campus in Brainerd. Brainerd Dispatch/ Steve Kohls » Purchase reprints of this photo.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services is sponsoring the statewide summits in partnership with the Minnesota Board of Aging, the Minnesota Department of Health, Central Minnesota Council on Aging and the East Central Regional Development Commission.
By the numbers
In the next 50 years, most of the growth in Minnesota's population will involve persons over 50. By 2020, Minnesota will have more retirees than school-age children.
Demographic trends and issues
In the next 50 years, most of the growth in Minnesota's population will involve persons over 50. By 2020, Minnesota will have more retirees than school-age children.
Minnesota's future population will be more diverse than ever before. The tremendous growth in the immigrant and ethnic population in Minnesota during the past 30 years has largely been in the younger generations, and 21 percent of the state's population under age 15 will be nonwhite by 2030.
Labor shortages are already visible in parts of Minnesota and will become more acute. Labor force growth will slow dramatically beginning in 2010 and continue into the foreseeable future.
Many Minnesotans are having trouble saving for retirement and old age. About half of the state's employees work for an employer that offers a retirement plan. These workers have the highest participation rate in employer-sponsored plans in the country at 67.6 percent for full-time workers. The other half don't have a retirement plan at work and have trouble saving. It is projected that up to 29 percent of Minnesotans born between 1936-1964 are at a high risk of having inadequate retirement income and unable to afford health and long-term care costs. If these high-risk people apply for assistance from the Medicare assistance program, public costs would soar to unsustainable levels.
Families are changing in ways that have many implication for an aging society. Families are becoming smaller and the number of individuals having no children is growing. Plus there are more blended families and challenging traditional patterns of care and affinity.
Minnesota has one of the lowest disability rates in the nation, but this may change. With more older people, the state will actually see an increase in the number of older persons with disabilities in the future.
- Source: "A Blueprint for 2010: Preparing Minnesota for the Age Wave. Report of Transform 2010," by the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Board of Aging
LaRhae Grindal Knatterud, director of the aging transformation with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, said Minnesota needs to prepare for this new wave and for the challenges that may come with a large aging population, especially greater Minnesota, since it has a higher aging population than other parts of the state.
Grindal Knatterud said that with this age wave, there will be pressures on pension systems, health and long-term care services and family caregiving. There also could be labor force shortages and people not saving enough money for their retirement.
The summit focused on five key themes: Redefining work and retirement; fostering communities for a lifetime; maximizing the use of technology; supporting caregivers of all ages; and improving health and long-term care.
A few of the things being proposed to prepare Minnesota are to increase the number of employers that offer retirement plans, offer eldercare support in all Minnesota workplaces, transform health care to provide access and quality at an affordable cost and expand the use of technology that helps people help themselves.
LaRhae Grindal Knatterud, director of the aging transformation with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, spoke at a Catch the Wave regional summit last week at Bethany Good Samaritan Campus in Brainerd. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Kathie Phillips, a senior advocate for the Senior LinkAge Line, said after the presentations at the meeting that she felt a sense of frustration in the statewide initiative because there is no lead agency to tell organizations what to do.
"I'm afraid we'll leave here today and no one will know what to do," Phillips said. "Or we'll be duplicating services that none of us can afford to do. There are too many issues and I think providers need to be assigned a task."
Grindal Knatterud said the state will have a work plan in place soon to delegate tasks. She said the purpose of the meeting was to get information out and to motivate people to take action and transform their organization, business or community to prepare for the aging population.
Bill Fortune of Lutheran Social Services said the initiative needs to start and end in the communities, with the state advising them.
Mary Koep, Brainerd, chair of the Minnesota Board of Aging, agreed and said one size doesn't fit all when it comes to helping the elderly in different communities.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.