1 The research is careful and important, but I would like to emphasize that it is a staff product and so does not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Board. As we all know, the United States is at the front edge of a massive and important shift in the demographic composition of the population.
The onset of the traditional retirement years for the oldest members of the baby-boom generation, 2 coupled with a trend toward greater life expectancy and relatively low fertility rates, will cause the share of older individuals in the population to rise markedly in the years ahead.