Older Americans powering the economy

Data: Moody's Analytics analysis of Fed, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau data. (Consumer spending is the sum of personal consumption expenditures, non-mortgage interest expense and charitable donations.) Chart: Axios Visuals

Axios - Older Americans are powering the economy: The changing demographics in the U.S. — more old people, fewer young ones — are reshaping jobs and spending in all kinds of ways, Axios' Emily Peck reports.

• Nearly all of January's job growth came from the health care and social assistance sectors. Health care employment also drove much of the labor market growth last year.

"As the population ages, you need more doctors and nurses, but you also need more health aides," says Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor. "You need more nursing home staff."

• As people have fewer children, fewer younger Americans are available to care for their elders.

The twist: The senior population is getting bigger as a share of the overall population. They're also getting richer. More than 70% of all wealth in the country is held by those over 55.  Share this story.