Survey: Metro NOLA in top 10 of cities with over-65 workforce

More than a fifth of people over 65 in metro New Orleans still work, according to a new survey.

The survey by U.S. Money Reserve finds New Orleans ninth among mid-size metros, with 21.6 percent of the over-65 population still working.

This has positives and drawbacks, according to UNO Professor of Business Economics Mark Rosa.

Louisiana is the only state in the southeast that is losing population, and a lot of that is the younger generation.

"So I think the people that have the institutional knowledge, that can work, I think businesses are sort of squeezed in that direction," said Rosa. "It's just a shrinking labor pool."

Rosa says that's good for employers, but it can also be a risk, if too much of the workforce is concentrated in the older demographic.

"The morality table would suggest that the 65-year-olds have fewer years in front of them from a productive standpoint than someone that's 25," he explained.

According to the survey, 7.7 percent of the metro New Orleans workforce is over 65.