A recent report ranked Fortune 500 employers by the percentage of workers they have over age 50. RetirementJobs.com gathered data from public records and surveys of employers and employees, to illustrate for job seekers 50+ which industries tend to employ a disproportionately high or low percentage of mature workers.

The results show that the airline industry employs the most workers over age 50, and that American Airlines was first in the nation, with nearly 40% of its workforce over age 50.  Toward the other end of the scale is Google, Inc., with just 13 % of workers over 50.

RetirementJobs.com stated that the study did not provide insight into whether employers are committed to hiring older workers, or whether they do or do not appreciate older workers. They further said that a low percentage of older workers does not imply that the company is a bad place for older people to work—they just have fewer than would be expected and may therefore be less accepting of older workers.

Additional findings from the study:

• The average among the Fortune 500 is 25.6% of employees age 50+.
• Companies addressing high turnover rates strategically recruit mature employees, because age 50+ workers turn over at one-third the rate of younger peers.
• In any given organization, the percentage of employees age 50+ ranges from 6% to 39% on average.

The top Industries for the number of workers over 50 are:

1. Airlines
2. Utilities
3. Insurance
4. Retail
5. Chemicals
6. Aerospace & Defense
7. Packaging & Containers
8. Forest & Paper Products
9. Food Production
10. Beverages

The Top 10 Fortune 500 Employers Of Older Workers

1. American Airlines                              39%
2. Eastman Kodak                                  38%
3. TravelCenters of America                 38%
4. Delta Air Lines                                   37%
5. United Air Lines                                 37%
6. Weyerhaeuser                                     36%
7. Edison International                          36%
8. Northeast Utilities                              36%
9. United Services Automobile Assn.   35%
10. KeyCorp                                                35%

The Bottom 10 Fortune 500 Employers For Older Worker

1. Consol Energy 14%
2. Nordstrom                                              14%
3. Chesapeake Energy                                14%
4. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold   14%
5. Electronic Arts                                       13%
6. Google, Inc.                                             12%
7. C.H. Robinson Worldwide                    12%
8. Goldman Sachs Group                           11%
9. Auto-Owners Insurance                          9%
10. AECOM Technology                                 6%

Also appearing in the bottom 20 are companies such as Target, Whole Foods, Best Buy, Hershey, Polo Ralph Lauren, Amazon and Philip Morris.

Tags: Employment Trends, Hiring Employees, Human Resources

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