This booklet provides information about the changing work force. It offers a profile of workers aged 45 and older, as well as likely changes in the work force of the future. Tables and graphs illustrate the following: profile of Americans aged 50 and older, by employment status; employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population by age and sex; ethnic background and gender; employed persons by major industry group by age and sex; labor force participation rates by sex and year, 1950, 1975, 1990, and 2005 (projected); employment by occupation, sex, and age; employed full- and part-time workers by sex and age; average (mean) weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers, by age and sex; unemployment by sex, age, and duration of unemployment; percent of employers offering health care coverage to retirees, by size of employer; age discrimination charges filed state and federal, 1980-90; employed wage and salary workers by age, sex, and union affiliation; median age at retirement by sex, 1950-55 to 2000-05; women, work, and age: age discrimination myths and realities; average (mean) monthly pension income by age and sex of retirement pension recipients; workers 25 years and over by pension status; and civilian labor force by sex and age, 1975, 1990, and growth projection to 2005. A list of myths and realities about older workers concludes the booklet. (YLB)