A study released recently by AARP and conducted by Towers Perrin, claims that attracting and retaining mature workers is now a business imperative. This group will make up nearly 20% of the U.S. workforce by 2012, up from 13% now. Mature workers (now that's an idea in search of an inoffensive alternative) are increasingly seen as a strategic resource rather than as a "protected class" liability.

With 76 million baby boomers ready to retire in the coming years, the knowledge loss will aggravate the labor shortage. As the workplace becomes  distance and part-time friendly, the increase in the average age will only seem odd to someone who understood what it used to be like. There's no question that the Graying of the Workplace is the dominant management trend/concern for the coming decade.

RetirementJobs.com's CEO is Tim Driver, an old friend from Salary.com and AOL. He's assembled a team of researchers, web specialists and big time journalists including another old friend. Industry veterans will remember Kevin Strange, the fireball of energy at the heart of the partnership that blossomed into Net-Temps. Back when we were learning and making the ropes of the industry, we spent long hours with Kevin figuring out how to interpret data and build effective online tools.

The team's synergy will be an essential resource in the coming months.

Retirementjobs.com is first to market in an arena attracting big time interest. Jeff Taylor (remember him?) is busily at work in another Boston neighborhood with many from the original Monster team. They are building another over-50 web business called Eons. A review of this Google search will give you a sense of what's happening in the over 50 market.

We're expecting a fairly dramatic transformation of the employment landscape as a result of the aging of the population. With a gray Europe, US and Canada, it's starting to look like a world of concentrated geriatric wealth controlling a younger set of workers in less robust economies. The audience served by RetirementJobs will be interesting indeed.

The 76 Million baby boomers will get old as gracefully as they came of age. We're looking forward to the stories of rowdy communities of grandparents getting back to the parties they put off during child rearing. We're expecting a slew of wonderful notions about nomadic (RV or not) escapades. We're waiting for "Animal Nursing Home" (an update to Animal House) from the surviving SNL cast members. (Certainly, we're hoping that it quickly becomes PC to use 25 year old taglines sometime soon.) After all, who turned Viagra into a recreational drug?

Silliness aside, the Retirement Tsunami (see the Birth Dearth, also) is shaping everything that gets in its way. Driver and the crew at RetirementJobs.com are taking an active role in shaping that future. They work closely with their customers and academic institutions to stay on top of changing needs and trends in the workforce. Their initial customers (like Borders, Home Depot and Bank of America) are operations with a clear picture of the importance of maintaining and growing a workforce while the population shifts and shrinks.

It's true (we said knowingly), 50 is the new 30.