The managerial implications of changing work force demographics: A scoping study

Abstract

The demographic changes currently underway in the United States have been widely anticipated and discussed by scholars and practitioners, but little is known about what impacts, if any, have already been experienced by employers. This article reports on a field study that asked managers in large US corporations to describe how and to what extent demographic changes have affected their businesses. Changing work force demographics were interpreted by managers as having twodistinctcomponents: a reduction in the growth rate and quality of potential employees, and increased gender, ethnic, and age diversity. While most firms reported managerial challenges from increased diversity, none characterized it as a serious business problem. A lack of sufficiently skilled workers for increasingly complex jobs, conversely, was seen as a major, ongoing problem.