Health care system faces concerns around Ohio's aging workforce

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Bureau of Labor Market Information, has released a new report on Ohio workforce issues. Titled Ohio's Graying Labor Force: Aging Through 2016, the report (available as a PDF download) states that since nearly a quarter of the state's population is 55 or older, the aging of the baby boom generation will represent one of the largest Ohio public policy issues in the next decade. Among the worries about this aging workforce is how it will impact health care--especially since an aging population will place increasing demands on Ohio's health care system even as new health care workers are needed to replace those who retire. As previously noted in The Review, almost 6,000 Ohio physicians, or 20.7% of all active physicians in the state, are over age 60.