State Comptroller Thomas Shack sounded the tsunami alarm Wednesday morning, warning that core state services could be in jeopardy in the next five to 10 years as older state employees leave the workforce and take their skill sets with them.

“This is really an issue that’s going to hit us whether we like it or not,” Shack said during the introduction to his 2017 Agency Leadership Summit. “Whether we think the workforce should be halved in the next five to 10 years, it’s going to happen.”

More than 30 percent of the state’s workforce is currently eligible for retirement, Shack said, and this “silver tsunami” of retirement-eligible workers is projected to swell to roughly 45 percent in five years.

Meanwhile, state employees under 30 make up just 10 percent of the total workforce.

As older employees leave, Shack said, they will take with them their expertise in operating the state’s technological systems, many of which are outdated and unknown to younger employees just entering the workforce.

“That’s not to say a leaner government is not a better government or could not be a better government,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is we have to be aware of the fact that core services are going to be put at risk if we don’t have a call to arms relative to what we’re going to do about these numbers.”

Shack said he would detail a new risk assessment tool designed to address the problems with the “silver tsunami” later Wednesday during the leadership conference.

“In my mind as comptroller, this is the biggest issue – besides systems security – facing the commonwealth of Massachusetts,” he said.