For an academic journal, I have been asked to provide a citation for
the assertion that American workers in general are older than American
college students in general.  The citation could be for a scholarly
book or journal, or online/offline data base.  There could be two
citations, one for avg.(mean or median)age of workers, a separate one
for college students.
It would be useful to know the average ages, but I primarily need an
academic reference to support the assertion.

elearner-ga,

The information you're looking for can be found here:


http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract.html
Statistical Abstract of the United States--2006 



though it takes a bit of searching and reworking of the numbers to get
it all neatly available.  The numbers don't present average ages, but
they clearly show that workers are generally older than college
students.




Table 579 of the reports has the age distribution of the American workforce:



http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/06statab/labor.pdf
Table 579. Civilian Labor Force?Percent Distribution by Sex and Age:  1980 to 2004


The table shows that, of the 147.4 million civilian workers in the US
(in 2004), their age distribution is as follows:



Age:

16 to 19  --  4.8%

20 to 24  --  10.3

25 to 34  --  21.8

35 to 44  --  24.5

45 to 54  --  22.9

55 to 64  --  12.2

65 yrs.
and over  --   3.4



Clearly, the great bulk of the workforce (84.9%) is in the 25 and
older age brackets, with most common age group being the 35-44 year
olds.



===============



For college students, turn to Table 268:



Table 268. College Enrollment by Sex, Age, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1980 to 2003



The data here are presented somewhat differently -- numbers rather
than percents, and breakouts for male and female students.

For 2003, the data is as follows:


	        Males	Females	Total
	       (thousands of students)

18 to 24 years	4,697	5,667	10,364

25 to 34 years	1,590	1,904	 3,494

35 years+         970	1,660	 2,630

TOTAL			        16,488




Once again, the data are very clear that the bulk of college students
(63%) are in the 24 and under age range.


===============



Q.E.D. -- the typical worker is older than the typical college student.  



The citation for the Statistical Abstracts is often given as:

U.S. Bureau of the Census. 2006. Statistical Abstract of the United
States. 112th ed. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office




I trust this information fully answers your question.

However, please don't rate this answer until you have everything you
need.  If there's anything more I can do for you, just post a Request
for Clarification, and I'm happy to assist you further.

pafalafa-ga


search strategy -- Made use of the bookmarked site for the Statistical Abstracts

Thanks for not only pointing me to the source but pulling out the
relevant information.  From you provided, I can calculate the averages
I need.
Thanks also for providing a sample citation.