Call it Invasion of the Oldsters.

We’re in the midst of a societal sea-change. Not long from now, for the first time in history, there will be more old people than young.

Next year, the baby boomers begin turning 62.

The shift will bring profound changes — from a big shortage of young people to work and pay taxes, to millions of cars putzing down the highways with their left blinkers on but never turning.

I don’t think we’re prepared. No one has figured out how exactly we’re going to keep funding health care, especially Medicare, keep Social Security afloat, maintain our economic productivity in the global economy and not so overtax the youngsters who are working that they have no future.

Minnesota will look a lot grayer in coming years. According to the state demographer, within a dozen years we’ll have a million people in the state over 65 — more than any other age group.

Nationally, Americans 62 and older will double from 40 million today to 80 million 30 years from now. The working-age population will grow just 12 percent over the same time.

One thing we will need to fill jobs and pay taxes is more immigrants. Big turkey producers like Jennie-O have already figured that out and have set up a network of recruiters in Texas who encourage Mexican immigrants to work in the processing plants of Minnesota.

We’ve been locked in a polarizing fight over immigration reform in this country that’s led to no reform at all. It’s a debate we need to settle soon because, one way or another, more immigrants will be needed and will be coming.

Companies are also beginning to realize they will have to find ways to keep older people in the workforce.

Years ago, Wal-Mart was the butt of jokes for their cadre of “greeters” they hired from the ranks of the retired. Turns out they saw the writing on the wall before other companies and began a program of cultivating older workers. They didn’t become the biggest retailer in the world being slow to see trends.

Personally, I like the idea of old people working in stores because they actually know what they’re talking about.

I was looking at jig saws in one of the big chain stores recently and tracked down a 20-something clerk and asked the difference between two saws. He proceeded to pick up the box and start reading the back label.

I wanted to tell him I can read, too. It was advice I wanted.

I go to Gardiner’s Hardware Hank store in the little town of Pine River a lot when I’m working on our cabin. It’s a family-run business with the patriarch — I’m guessing around 80 — still working every day. He sold the business to his son years ago but keeps coming in because that’s what he has always done.