According to the RAND Corporation, the U.S. population and workforce has been
changing for quite some time (Karoly and Panis, 2004). Major factors include the aging
of the baby boomer generation as well as more women are entering the workforce. For
the United States, the aging and retiring population increase has imposed greater burdens
per working people. This demographic phenomenon has affected the growth of the
American workforce. Consequently, the RAND (2004) report also stated that during the
1990s, the workforce grew at an annual rate of just 1.1 percent, in comparison to the
1970s when it grew at 2.6 percent. While the latest projections show an increase in the
labor force, it is specifically in highly specialized areas. By 2018, the economy will
create 46.8 million openings of which 63 percent will require workers with a least some
college education (Carnevale, Smith and Strohl, 2010).