Transcript AGING OF THE BABY BOOM

Aging of the American
Workforce: Trends,
Opportunities,
Challenges
1. Why WIA/One-Stops
Should Pay Attention to
Older Workers
2. Why Employers Should
be Concerned
IMPLICATIONS FOR
EMPLOYERS
• The country is growing older, and the
workforce along with it
• As the baby boom reaches retirement age,
there will be fewer young adults entering the
workforce to replace them
• These trends will have economic and
productivity consequences, putting a strain on
business/industry
• Continuous work at some level (ft/pt) increasingly important & desirable for older
people and society as a whole
GROWING OLD IN
AMERICA TODAY
• Radically different than it was for previous
generations
• Today: healthier, better educated, more
willing to work into the later years
• Chronology = Competence
To stay competitive as new sources of labor
become scarce, employers must not
overlook this talented and largely untapped
employee base
The U.S. Workforce is
Aging
• Baby Boomers come of age
• 30% of Americans are boomers (83 million)
• By 2025 20% of Americans will be 65+
• By 2005:
• median worker age 41
• workers 45+ will comprise 40% of the
workforce
• Workforce will continue to age
through 2015
oldest boomers
begin to retire
The Economy is Hot
[or at least luke-warm]
• Local labor markets extremely tight
• 1998-2008: BLS projects 14% increase
in employment
• Pay scales driven higher; benefit
packages increasing
• Companies beginning to look to new
sources of labor supply
RETIREMENT TRENDS
• Growing indication the early
retirement trend is leveling off
• Growth in jobs/declining unemployment creates
demand for all workers
• Increasing popularity of bridge jobs (gradual
retirement)
LOW-INCOME
BOOMERS
• 9 million boomers (today aged 35-54)
did not graduate from high school
• incomes 12% lower than for similarly educated
persons in their parents’ generation
• US will soon see an increase in the number of
poor, aging adults
• As the tail of the “bulge” reaches age
45, low-income mature workers will
soon increase by 25% [from 8 to 10
million]
ECONOMIC
CONSEQUENCES
• Dependency ratio
• 1950: 7 working age persons to 1 elderly
person
• 2030: ratio will dwindle to less than 3 to 1
• Increasing work participation rate of
older Americans would:
• add to the productivity of the workforce
• alleviate strains on the US economy
• increase private saving and reduce the burden
on public resources through higher tax
revenues
DEMAND FOR OLDER
WORKERS
• As workers retire, the economy loses
valuable work experience
• Improvement in work-readiness of
young workers needed to meet everhigher skill requirements of the
economy cannot be taken as a given
• Older workers are productive, reliable,
trainable, with a high work ethic and
customer service focus
NECESSITY OF
LIFELONG LEARNING
• Key factor to productivity (of all workers)
is skill level and training
• For most mature Americans there are
few physical or cognitive barriers to
work and learning new skills
• Employers and workers must both work
towards closing the technology training
gap
Age & Income Affect
Training Needs
Common stereotypes portray older
workers as:
• Harder to train
• Less able to keep up with
technological change
• Less promotable
• Less motivated
Older Workers are not a
Homogenous Lot
Different needs … Different strategies
• Dislocated workers
• Women [displaced homemakers]
• Low income
Training Implications
• Training for older workers needs to be
slowed down
• Vision and hearing changes require attention
• Older workers prefer less formal seating
arrangements
• Training proceeds better in comfortable
classroom environments
• Shorter sessions are more effective
• The training class is best when kept small
Some Things to Remember
• Older people perform better on selfpaced tests than they do on timed tests
• When both words and pictures
(graphics) are used, older persons can
retain 6 times more information
• It’s much easier for older people to see
yellow, orange & red than darker colors
• Greater levels of illumination are
needed (an average 60 yr. old’s eye admits only  as
much light as a 20 yr. old)
The Training Process
• Training focus should be on the gains of
experience
• Older workers learn what they think they
need to learn
• Trainees need help with self-confidence
and self-esteem issues
• Older trainees value non-verbal rather
than verbal training
• Adults learn by doing
• The training process should be slowed
down --- self paced learning works best
• Training should have ample
opportunities for practice
• Testing should be used sparingly
• Relate training to skills already
possessed
Adults Learn by Doing
•
•
•
•
•
•
Method
Lecture
Reading
Audio Visual
Demonstrations
Discussions
Practice
(experiential)
Average Retention Rate
5%
10%
20%
30%
50%
75%
Barriers to Labor Market
Participation
• Government policies and practices
– Financial incentives to retire
– Health care
• Public/Private Employer policies and
practices
– Age stereotypes
– Pensions
– Training and retraining
• Individual barriers
– Rapid technological change (new occupations/skills)
Promising Program and
Practices
SCSEP (Title V of the OAA) is a viable OneStop Partner to Meet Demographic Needs
• 100,000 served, 35,000 placed annually
• Outreach & recruitment
• Counseling
• Assessment, IDP development
• Subsidized work experience & training
• Job development & placement
Working Together to Meet Goals
As a partner, SCSEP can ...
1 Provide training to One-Stop staff to prepare them to
better serve older workers
2 Ensure specialized assistance is available for older
workers to effectively utilize the One-Stops
[staffing strategies]
3 Ensure One-Stops accommodate the special needs
of older workers
4 Assist One-Stop job developers to include job
opportunities for older workers
5 Ensure One-Stops have necessary linkages &
partnerships to ensure availability of specialized
training for older workers
6 System linkages to facilitate access to support
services needed by older workers
7 Assist One-Stops with an outreach & recruitment plan
that includes older workers and minority older
workers
8 Assign project participants to serve as mentors to
school-to-work and welfare-to-work participants
9 Provide employer linkages
An Older Worker Policy Makes
Good Business & Political
Sense
Demographic and Economic Imperative:
• Employers facing labor force drop-off due
to retirements will have to adapt in some
way
Political Imperative:
• Extending work lives may help reduce
younger workers’ burden supporting
retirees (Social Security & Medicare)
The SCSEP as your partner can assist you in
meeting the needs of older job seekers.
NEED FURTHER
INFORMATION OR
ASSISTANCE?
OLDER WORKER PROGRAMMING
RESOURCES
DoL/ETA Technical Assistance Guides
 Using the Workforce Investment Act to Serve
Mature and Older Workers
 One-Stop Training Curriculum for Older Worker
Specialists
 Different Needs, Different Strategies: A Manual
for Training Low-Income Older
Workers
 An Employer’s Guide to Older Workers: How to
Win Them Back and Convince Them to Stay
SCSEP WEBSITE:
www.wdsc.doleta.gov/seniors
OLDER WORKER PROGRAMMING
RESOURCES
To obtain (free) copies of Technical Assistance
Guides, contact:
David Richardson
US Department of Labor, D/OWP
200 Constitution Ave., NW
Rm N4644
Washington, DC 20010
• Phone: 202-693-3757
• Fax: 202-693-3818