2010 Census May Show Boomer Impact On Future Economy

Inequality

Though Boomers are widely perceived as being well educated and affluent, controlling $7 trillion of the nation’s household wealth, data also reveal a surprising degree of inequality within the group.

And the gap is likely to widen, says Mather.

“In the 2010 census data, because of the recession, I think we’ll see a lot more inequality,” he says. “Baby Boomers are a fairly well-educated group, but not as well educated as the following Generation X group, so there’s a lot of Boomers who were really hit hard by the recession—the ones who didn’t have the education level needed to keep a good job.”

A 2004 study called “The Lives and Times of the Baby Boomers” for the Russell Sage Foundation found just under one-third of early Boomer men and a little over one-fourth of early Boomer women have BAs.

Among late Boomers, only about one in four have graduated from college.

Those without a degree—often minorities who worked in the hard-hit manufacturing sector—have suffered longer bouts of involuntary unemployment.

“At midlife, the Boomers live with an even higher standard of living than their parents, but they also live with more inequality,” says the report, co-authored by Mary Elizabeth Hughes and Angela O’Rand, professor of Sociology at Duke University in Durham, N.C, states. “The inequality is evident in their household incomes, home ownership patterns and net worth.”

Immigrants who entered the U.S. during the 20th century with varying levels of education only widened the divide between those with the education to maintain job stability and those without.

The report goes on to say that disadvantaged minorities and women in the Boomer generation remain at higher risk of non-coverage by pensions during their retirement years, which will likely boost demand exponentially for public assistance programs, including Medicaid and subsidized housing.

“Women live longer than men, have longer experiences with disability and greater requirements for long-term care,” the report notes. “Widows and divorced or never-married women who find themselves alone in old age with limited retirement incomes are permanent concerns of retirement policymakers.”

That concern is further compounded by the size of the Boomer population entering retirement and the fact that life expectancies continue to soar.

As Boomers enter their senior years, it remains unclear how they will impact state budgets, federal entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, or the social safety net for younger generations.

But one thing is certain: the generation that has shaped social and political change for the last 60 years isn’t done making history yet.

• Quiz: Test Your Boomer Smarts
• Slideshow: Top Places for Boomers to Retire

Watch "Tom Brokaw Reports: Boomer$!", Thursday, March 4 at 9pm ET on CNBC. The program will also air Saturday, March 6 at 7pm ET; Sunday, March 7th at 9pm ET; and Monday, March 8th at 8pm ET.