Employers may not be able to fill vacancies left by retirees fast enough. A new report from the Retirement Income Institute, Alliance for Lifetime Income finds U.S. employers will need to hire more than 240,000 people a month over the next five years to replace jobs left vacant by retirees. 

"We are in the early stages of the largest retirement-driven, workforce turnover in our nation's history," said Jason Fichtner, who commissioned the study as executive director of the Retirement Income Institute, Alliance for Lifetime Income. "These retirements have already begun and will continue to have a significant impact on our economy."

The report examined the effect retirement of the largest and final cohort of the Baby Boomer Generation, known as “Peak Boomers,” will have on the workforce. The findings show that 18 economic sectors are likely to experience an average loss of 10.1 percent of their current workforce over the next five years, as 14.8 million Americans anticipate retiring from their jobs. 

When broken down, it shows that 16.7 percent of the workforce in the utilities sector are preparing to retire, while 11.8 percent of the manufacturing workforce is nearing retirement age. In the construction sector, 10.5 percent of employees are nearing retirement, while 9.6 percent in the transportation, warehousing and health care sectors are approaching retirement. The report stated that with the health care sector losing more than 2.1 million workers, there will be a huge stress as these retirees approach their 70s, putting greater demands on the industry. 

"A historic surge in retirement age Americans coincides with a historic turnover in workers who serve older Americans, thereby creating a labor gap with far-reaching societal and economic implications," said Fichtner.

The manufacturing, construction, education, scientific and retail trade industries are all expedited to lose more than 1 million workers over the next five years. 

"Never before has our nation had to deal with so many workplace retirements at the same time," said Fichtner.  "This is a big challenge for businesses and will put added pressure on the recruitment and training of younger workers and the expanded application of automated intelligence in the workplace. The U.S. would also benefit from a more thoughtful immigration process than we currently have in place to help fill many of these jobs," he said.

The decline in workers could lead to a 1.3 percent decline in productivity, which would be offset "by technological progress, capital investment and the additional year of experience gained by everyone who continues to work," according to the study. 

"Our labor force will adjust to the Boomer exodus, but there will be challenges along the way," said Fichtner, adding that for many Baby Boomers, there is no pension waiting for them, meaning many retirees may be left with income shortages they weren’t planning on. 

"Private sector pension plans were once prevalent in our economy but are now rare, and Boomers are the first generation of U.S. workers to retire without a pension plan as a base of retirement income," Fichtner noted.  "As a result, many middle-income retirees are using annuities to generate protected and predictable income in retirement."