In the early days, the name was a perfect fit. We were babies, and we were part of a boom the likes of which our country had never seen before.
All these many years later, the name is a bit ... off. Let's face it, none of us Boomers have been babies in a very, very long time.
We were born between the years 1946 and 1964, the result of the explosion of fertility after World War ll. In 2012, we Baby Boomers range from our mid-4os to our mid-60.
Soldiers came home after World War II embracing once again the American way of life, and in the process setting off the Baby Boom.
The number of births per year went from 2.8 million up to 4.3 million, and then dropped back down to 3.14 million.
The Baby Boom spanned two decades, and there's alot of difference between an old Boomer born in 1946 and a young Boomer born in 1964. But they were all part of the long tidal wave of births.
Baby Boomers are a force to be reckoned with in the United States, with 75 million making up 29 percent of Americans according to the Baby Boomers Headquarters website.
Baby Boomers comprise the largest and most powerful demographic according to age.
When Boomers were actually babies, and throughout boomer childhood years, toys, baby food, baby equipment and paraphernalia were big business.
The Boom fuelled home sales, and car sales. It increased the need for more roads, more services, more consumer goods.
Expansion in factories and schools, proliferation of factories and places of business mushroomed because of the advent of The Boom.
Senior Boomers, born in the late 1940s and the early 1950s, were coming of age in the late 1960s.
The formative years of boomers encompassed the assassinations of President John Kennedy, Senator Bobby Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Viet Nam War and Woodstock.
Sit-ins and other types of demonstrations, protesting the Viet Nam war, and Watergate are part of the older Boomer's experience.
As The Boom matured over the years, if Boomers wanted it, the economy wanted it too. The toys and tools Boomers have longed for and looked for have had a history of steering the enonomy.
Boomers make up the lion's share of the work force. Many of the leaders, executives, the movers and shakers of the U.S. economy, are Baby Boomers.
Younger Boomers will be a strong presence for some years to come. And at the other end of this bulge of humanity, older Boomers are triggering a massive change in how retirement from work, and retirement homes, will look.
Health care and senior care are being transformed by the needs of the aging Baby Boom.
We made a big stir as we infiltrated and eventually took over the work force and became the powers that be. As The Boom ages, we will make a big impact on the economy as we retire from it.
Sources:
So What's a Boomer, Anyhow?
http://www.bbhq.com/whatsabm.htm
Baby Boom. March 2, 2011.
http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/babyboom.htm
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