HAMILTON COUNTY— Hamilton County is being hit hard by Baby Boomer retirements. At the end of 2024, more than two dozen Hamilton Country employees retired and all of them had decades of experience.
"I’ve been with Hamilton County 44 and a half years," said Robin Mills who retired as county Auditor. "Being out of high school I didn’t have plans for college. I was truly blessed."
I worked for Hamilton County for 51 years," Kent Ward, who retired as county Surveyor said. "I love the work."
In the next several years, baby boomer retirements will reshape the workforce not only in the Hoosier state but across the country.
Hamilton County lost about 25 employees with more than 700 years of experience combined.
"Looking at our baby boomers we knew that this was approaching so we started to be proactive in addressing it," said Sheena Randall the director of HR for Hamilton County.
Randall says they've been working to create outreach and teaching opportunities in the community to help fill the need. The county has worked to offer a competitive and affordable healthcare plan and is now working on childcare options to draw in employees.
"We’re seeing between the oldest boomers hit 65 around 2010 and the youngest will be there about 2030, and in that period we’re going to have about half a million Hoosiers grow to 65 or older. That's going to be about a 60 percent increase in that population in the state," said Matt Kinghorn, a senior demographer at the IU Kelley School of Business.
Kinghorn says filling jobs will be a challenge over the next 15 to 20 years.
"It raises a lot of challenges for sure. It's going to impact economic growth. The big challenge is how do we support the growing ranks of retirees as a labor force that's growing very little or even declining, that is going to be one of the defining challenges over the next two or three decades."
While employers try to figure that out, Mills and Ward are enjoying the results of decades of hard work.
"Finding my new normal will be fun," said Mills.
"I don't think we're gonna get bored, we have a lot of plans," said Ward.
