Fewer new workers replacing retirees

Birmingham News reports:

For years the business world, backed up by U.S. Census data, has reported that 2006 would be the year when two workers would leave the work force for every one entering it.

"It just recently hit me we are not looking down the road into a crystal ball anymore," said Deborah Vance, vice president of commercial development for the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce. "We are actually in this. The issue is even more pressing. The first wave of the baby boomers are retiring."

The U.S. population hit 300 million officially this week, but the 15-24 age group - the one entering the work force - has been shrinking proportionally for more than 30 years.

The beginning of a big trend.