For Immediate Release:
September 21, 2009
Contact:
Kit Wagar
Office of Public Information
573-751-6062
Older Adults Are Fastest Growing Segment of U.S. Workforce
Older Americans have surpassed the young and middle-aged as the fastest growing segment of the workforce, Missouri officials said Monday while kicking off Older Workers Week.
Economic necessity is increasingly the primary motivator for people 55 and older to re-enter or join the workforce, but social interaction and the need to keep challenged also play a role.
Older Workers Weekis sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Senior Community Service Employment Program, which provides on-the-job training to individuals 55 or older with limited finances. Since its inception, the program has helped over one million older Americans enter the workforce.
In Missouri, the program has funding to place 2,754 older people in jobs this year. The program this year received a boost from the federal stimulus package, which provided an additional $2.8 million statewide. The stimulus funding is expected to expand the program by about 300 workers.
The program has a history of successful placements, with employers rating older workers high on judgment, commitment to quality, attendance and punctuality. These contributions to the nation’s economy will be touted during National Employ Older Workers Week September 21 – 25.
Mary Clapper, 68, assistant director of nursing and a clinical supervisor for Sonshine Manor in Republic, is one of the program’s success stories. Adversity struck her hard 17 years ago, when she lifted a large patient and her hands got caught in the transfer belt, “almost ripping them off.”
After 16 reconstructive surgeries and years of rehabilitation, Clapper felt ready to re-enter the work force in 2008. The problem: the prevailing sentiment was that “people my age don’t come off disability,” she says.
But MERS/Missouri Goodwill Industries, a contractor who participates in the program, believed otherwise. The agency places qualifying older adults in paid training assignments with day care centers, schools, nursing homes and governmental agencies. The older adults work about 20 hours a week during their training and receive minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour in Missouri.
The goal is for an older adult to obtain full-time employment and move out of subsidized training. Clapper accomplished this goal when Sonshine Manor hired her for a permanent part-time position last year, which increased her wages and hours.
Clapper has no thoughts of retiring. “I love nursing,” she said. “It’s my life. I needed to prove to myself that I could do it again.”
Limited-income seniors interested in learning more about the Senior Community Service Employment Program should call 573-526-8574.
The program is administered through a $2.8 million grant with the Department of Health and Senior Services and three of its contracting agencies: Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Inc., MERS/Missouri Goodwill Industries, and Experience Works, Inc.