Experts Outline Ways to Boost Seniors’ Participation in a Global Workforce
Community Development Publications
Aging News Alert
Senior Employment
By Pamela Appea
An international panel of analysts tell an aging conference in Washington technological training, recruitment of women, phased retirement, flextime workplaces and strong health insurance are key to recruiting senior citizens as workers.
The panelists predict in 20-30 years many countries won’t have enough employees to fill available jobs.
They offered this bleak outlook at a conference jointly sponsored by the Committee for Economic Development and the Center for Strategy and International Studies.
Seven of the world’s largest economies—the United States, Germany, Spain, Australia, Japan and Sweden—have significantly underestimated the growth of their aging populations, which may precipitate even greater social security crises than are forecast, researchers tell conferees.
In the United States, people are living longer and retiring earlier.
The average retirement age has dropped to 62 today from 65 in the late 1960s.
In 2030, nearly 1 in 4 adults in the developed nations will be age 65 or older.
Although seniors are needed to help ease the predicted employee shortage, many countries avoid hiring older workers or penalize those who want to re-enter the workforce by taking away pension benefits, the experts note. They urge these countries to raise the retirement age and actively recruit seniors, many of whom want to continue to work.
In Australia, says Veronica Sheen, deputy director of the Australian Council for the Aging, most companies discriminate against qualified senior workers.
They tend to make decisions about the hiring and firing of older workers more on the basis of stereotypical attitudes than on productivity measures, Sheen says.
Mie Teno, managing director of the Deltapoint International, a management consulting firm in Japan, says companies try to lower costs by hiring younger, temporary employees.
Job-seeking senior citizens typically have higher salary expectations and lower technological skills than younger workers, Teno says.
But experts from several nations say policies are changing, often to encourage flextime or temporary positions to allow phased retirements. Increased training, especially in technology, is also gaining ground.
But it is unclear how many countries, including the United States, will continue to provide pensions and other retirement benefits, especially for middle and lower-income seniors’ who are less likely to have personal savings.
In Germany and other European countries, policy experts say the time for generous government plans is coming to and end.
By 2030, it does not seem unrealistic that one employee will have to finance one retiree,” says Rolf Kroker, Director of the Economic and Social Policy Dept. at the Institute for German Economy.
Kroker says it makes sense to encourage middle-aged people to save money now for retirement.
Some conference participants point to complementary ways to address the projected job/worker shortage by increasing immigration quotas and finding ways to increase fertility rates in their countries.
Info: CSIS, 202/775-3242, http://www.csis.org; CED, 202/296-5960, http://www.ced.org.
Originally published September 25, 2000
Monday, September 25, 2000
Sunday, September 24, 2000
Pollsters: Social Security Wins Votes for Gore But Does Not Decide Race, Aging News Alert
Pollsters: Social Security Wins Votes for Gore But Does Not Decide Race
By Pamela Appea
Aging News Alert, Social Security
September 14, 2000
Copyright 2000 by Community Development Publications
Al Gore won votes after emphasizing Social Security in the campaign’s last few weeks, but the issue did not decide the election, says Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster with Public Opinion Strategies, an Alexandria, Va.-based research firm.
In a joint forum sponsored by the Health Insurance Assn. of America, McInturff and Mellman, a Washington-based Democratic pollster, presented results from an October telephone survey among 800 likely voters and a second Election Day voter survey with another group of 800.
When asked to “put aside character or other personal issues,” 24% of people in the November sample said Social Security was the most important issue, up 9 percentage points from the October survey.
Medicare ranked as the most important issue for 7% of the November group and 6% in the October survey. Prescription-drug coverage garnered 5% in November and 4% in October.
“Voters tells us while health-care related issues are important, they are not the most important issue in the election,” says McInturff.
Mellmann says Gore finished strong. But Democrats overall became more timid, a little “shy-er” to promote their health-care plans, after Republicans attacked the plans.
McInturff says he doesn’t think Social Security, or Gore’s prescription drug plan was a decisive issue for voters.
But health care’s importance has grown. Eight years ago, 6% of voters thought health care was a critical issue, Mellman says. That rose to 21% by this year.
About 62% of voters in the 2000 post-election sample credit Gore for proposing an effective prescription-drug plan, while 51% of people say [President] George [W.] Bush had an effective prescription-drug plan.
Info: (202) 824-1614, www.hiaa.org.
By Pamela Appea
Aging News Alert, Social Security
September 14, 2000
Copyright 2000 by Community Development Publications
Al Gore won votes after emphasizing Social Security in the campaign’s last few weeks, but the issue did not decide the election, says Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster with Public Opinion Strategies, an Alexandria, Va.-based research firm.
In a joint forum sponsored by the Health Insurance Assn. of America, McInturff and Mellman, a Washington-based Democratic pollster, presented results from an October telephone survey among 800 likely voters and a second Election Day voter survey with another group of 800.
When asked to “put aside character or other personal issues,” 24% of people in the November sample said Social Security was the most important issue, up 9 percentage points from the October survey.
Medicare ranked as the most important issue for 7% of the November group and 6% in the October survey. Prescription-drug coverage garnered 5% in November and 4% in October.
“Voters tells us while health-care related issues are important, they are not the most important issue in the election,” says McInturff.
Mellmann says Gore finished strong. But Democrats overall became more timid, a little “shy-er” to promote their health-care plans, after Republicans attacked the plans.
McInturff says he doesn’t think Social Security, or Gore’s prescription drug plan was a decisive issue for voters.
But health care’s importance has grown. Eight years ago, 6% of voters thought health care was a critical issue, Mellman says. That rose to 21% by this year.
About 62% of voters in the 2000 post-election sample credit Gore for proposing an effective prescription-drug plan, while 51% of people say [President] George [W.] Bush had an effective prescription-drug plan.
Info: (202) 824-1614, www.hiaa.org.
Wednesday, September 06, 2000
Program Opens Doors For Uninsured, Community & Youth Funding Report
Program Opens Doors For Uninsured
By Pamela Appea
Community & Youth Funding Report
Model Programs
El Paso, Texas. (CDP)—Border Vision Fronteriza, a federally subsidized health initiative in states bordering Mexico—Ariz., Calif., N.M. and Texas—has been helping poor children and families get health insurance since 1995.
In the past three years, Border Fronteriza has enrolled thousands of uninsured kids in the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid.
Between April-Sept. 1999, the program sought to enroll 4,500 children in CHIP and Medicaid, and enrolled 10, 325.
For 1998-1999, the program counts 14, 3000 “secure” enrollments: children who now are covered by either Medicaid or CHIP in all of the target states. As of June 30, the initiative has added 6,447 more children.
About 90 percent of the children and families that Border Fronteriza serves are Latino, many of whom are recent immigrants unfamiliar with the health insurance system.
“There is probably no other project in the country doing what Border Fronteriza is doing,” says Eva Moya, senior project coordinator for the initiative.
The initiative trains community health workers to talk with people about health care, encourage them to enroll their children in CHIP and Medicaid and provide step-by-step support services like Spanish-to-English translation.
:They reach people where they are—at their homes, their schools. They meet at the laundry shop and the community centers … to help the families navigate the complexities of the CHIP and Medicaid systems,” Moya says.
Community health workers follow up with their families so their children will continue to re-enroll. This is crucial to the long-term success of the program, she says.
“You can sign up all the people you want, but that’s not going to guarantee that they are going to use the service, that they know how to use the service,” Moya says.
Securing funding to sustain Border Fronteriza is the initiative’s biggest challenge, Moya says. Funding from the federal Health Resources & Services Admin—$410,00 this year—goes to Oct. 2001. All four states combined give $200,000. Private foundations help as well.
Moya adds more outreach and training of community workers is needed to inform “harder-to-reach” uninsured groups, such as migrant workers and the homeless.
“We live in four border states that have among the highest uninsured rates largely due to socioeconomic poverty,” Moya says. “We still have a long way to go.”
Info: Moya, 915/585-7612,
Originally Published September 6, 2000
Copyright 2000 for Community Development Publications
By Pamela Appea
Community & Youth Funding Report
Model Programs
El Paso, Texas. (CDP)—Border Vision Fronteriza, a federally subsidized health initiative in states bordering Mexico—Ariz., Calif., N.M. and Texas—has been helping poor children and families get health insurance since 1995.
In the past three years, Border Fronteriza has enrolled thousands of uninsured kids in the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid.
Between April-Sept. 1999, the program sought to enroll 4,500 children in CHIP and Medicaid, and enrolled 10, 325.
For 1998-1999, the program counts 14, 3000 “secure” enrollments: children who now are covered by either Medicaid or CHIP in all of the target states. As of June 30, the initiative has added 6,447 more children.
About 90 percent of the children and families that Border Fronteriza serves are Latino, many of whom are recent immigrants unfamiliar with the health insurance system.
“There is probably no other project in the country doing what Border Fronteriza is doing,” says Eva Moya, senior project coordinator for the initiative.
The initiative trains community health workers to talk with people about health care, encourage them to enroll their children in CHIP and Medicaid and provide step-by-step support services like Spanish-to-English translation.
:They reach people where they are—at their homes, their schools. They meet at the laundry shop and the community centers … to help the families navigate the complexities of the CHIP and Medicaid systems,” Moya says.
Community health workers follow up with their families so their children will continue to re-enroll. This is crucial to the long-term success of the program, she says.
“You can sign up all the people you want, but that’s not going to guarantee that they are going to use the service, that they know how to use the service,” Moya says.
Securing funding to sustain Border Fronteriza is the initiative’s biggest challenge, Moya says. Funding from the federal Health Resources & Services Admin—$410,00 this year—goes to Oct. 2001. All four states combined give $200,000. Private foundations help as well.
Moya adds more outreach and training of community workers is needed to inform “harder-to-reach” uninsured groups, such as migrant workers and the homeless.
“We live in four border states that have among the highest uninsured rates largely due to socioeconomic poverty,” Moya says. “We still have a long way to go.”
Info: Moya, 915/585-7612,
Originally Published September 6, 2000
Copyright 2000 for Community Development Publications
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