Friday, October 17, 2008

Babyboomers drive career of the future

For years, I've heard Babyboomers acuse Gen Xers of wanting them to die so they can take their jobs (seriously, I've heard this quite a bit from Boomers). Apparently, they were kind of right.

It turns out that the funeral industry is expecting a boom from the Boomers in the upcoming years. Just as Boomers drove the market for high-end minivans while they were in their 30s - and designer drugs like Viagra in their 50s, they will also boost the funeral business in the future.

The Associated Press reports:
Though dipping slightly over the last several years, and expected to be stagnant
for several more, the death rate of about 8.1 per 1,000 people is expected to
inch significantly upward sometime in the next decade and eventually go as high
as 10.9. The exact dates are tough to pinpoint because of the size of the
generation and medical advances.Experts say the mortality rate is the greatest
single predictor of the industry's business, estimated at about $11 billion
annually at funeral homes alone. So bottom lines are likely to bulge.

2 comments:

Jennifer Chronicles (jenx67.com) said...

I feel really bad for saying this, but this post made me laugh. No come-uppins like death. =(

Anonymous said...

I remember back in high school, one of the guys seriously wanted to be a mortician.

Hope he's doing well now.