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OLDER WORKERS KEY TO CONTINUED ECONOMIC GROWTH IN MASSACHUSETTS, COMMISSION FINDS
Report Warns that Mass. May Lose 250,000 Jobs to Other States within 5 Years
(Boston, MA) - In a report submitted this morning to Governor Paul Cellucci, the Commonwealth's Blue Ribbon Commission on Older Workers warns that the Massachusetts economy could be hobbled by the loss of as many as 250,000 potential new jobs to other states by mid-decade, unless steps are taken to retrain and employ the state's older workers.
"Labor scarcities are likely to reach crisis proportions by the middle of the next decade," says Commission Chairman John T. Dunlop. "The supply deficit will hit hardest in the health, high-technology, finance, and public education sectors - bedrocks of the Massachusetts economy. Compounding the problem, this crisis is coming at a time when federal support for training of older workers is being cut back."
The answer to the labor deficit, the report suggests, is the growing group of older workers - those over 45 - in Massachusetts. But in order to capitalize on this resource, changes must be made in the way companies hire and train older workers, in the participation of older workers in union-management training programs, and in how the Commonwealth organizes its workforce development efforts.
"Persons 45 years and older will account for an all-time high of nearly half of all workers by mid-decade. This is the only group that is large enough and flexible enough to supply the labor needed for continued economic expansion," says Commissioner and AARP President Joseph Perkins.
Commission member Monica Halas, a senior attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services, says right now there are about 190,000 unemployed, underemployed, or poor older persons in the state who could help fill the labor supply deficit, provided their education and skills are updated to ensure decent wages.
According to the Commission, many Massachusetts employers are unaware of - and thus will be unprepared for - these impending changes in labor market conditions. The shortfall in workers will be further aggravated by severe education and skill mismatches and by a projected drop of 200,000 in the pool of 25- to 39-year-olds who are the traditional source of new hires for many Massachusetts companies.
The Commission's findings also highlight the need for transforming the current patchwork of largely independent federal and state workforce development programs into a seamless system that allows workers to move up the learning ladder throughout their working lives.
Joseph Cronin, former president of Bentley College, emphasizes the importance of forging tighter links among the key government training organizations - one-stop skill centers, programs for the disabled, community colleges, transitional training for welfare recipients, and the Commonwealth's Workforce Training Fund - and for holding these programs to high standards of accountability.
The six key elements of the Commission's action plan are:
* Create a single state agency, advised by a comprehensive Workforce Investment Board, to plan and coordinate all publicly supported workforce development programs in Massachusetts.
* Increase public funding and other incentives for lifelong training, particularly for low-income older workers.
* Provide training assistance to private and public sector employers who currently lack the capacity to hire and upgrade older workers.
* Strengthen efforts to eliminate age discrimination and other barriers to the employment of older workers.
* Develop an independent evaluation system to provide objective feedback for improving program performance as well as foolproof accountability, for all publicly supported employment and training programs.
* Encourage a greater use of public-private employment and training partnerships to help make Massachusetts the "Workforce Development State" for workers and their employers.
The 12-member Commission, appointed in 1997 by then-Lieutenant Governor Paul Cellucci, is an independent panel of leaders from industry, labor, education, and public interest organizations. Former U.S. Secretary of Labor John T. Dunlop of Harvard University and Warren Pepicelli, Vice President of U.N.I.T.E., AFL-CIO, co-chair the Commission.
The Commission's report, prepared by Professor David Terkla/UMass Boston, Professor Andrew Sum/Northeastern University's Center For Labor Market Studies, and Professor Peter Doeringer/Boston University, draws upon more than two years of hearings and 35 studies on older workers and the Massachusetts economy.
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