Massachusetts: Policy Brief Calls on State Leaders To Capitalize on Coming Age Wave

The Boston College Center on Aging & Work and AARP have issued a policy brief calling on Massachusetts state leaders to include 50-plus workers in the mix as the state develops solutions to stimulate its sagging economy. The policy brief--21st Century Age Demographics: Opportunities for Visionary State Leadership--provides information to help state leaders nationwide examine the connection between aging and work, and how changes in the labor force participation of older adults will affect their states.

“State leaders must play an active role in developing policy and initiatives to capture the value of 50-plus workers,” says Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, co-director of the Center on Aging & Work at Boston College. “Most of the attention paid to the aging of the workforce has focused on national trends. However, the thought leadership for economic and workforce development occurs at the state level.”

Among other things, the policy brief suggests raising awareness, encouraging business leaders to respond, expanding resources, benchmarking progress, and positioning Massachusetts as a model employer as ways in which to to advance public sector innovation and increase employment options for 50-plus workers.

Source: Center on Aging & Work at Boston College Press Release (April 2, 2008); AARP Massachusetts News Release (April 2, 2008)

Civic Ventures Report Highlights State Initiatives on Capturing Boomer Energy

A report issued by Civic Ventures shows that leaders of several state governments are taking the initiative to develop policies and programs that make the best use of boomer experience. The report--"Building an Experience Dividend: State Governments Lead Call to Engage Boomers"--focuses on developments in five states:

• Arizona and its Mature Workforce Initiative to develop policy recommendations and launch new programs, such as a certification program given to businesses deemed "mature-worker friendly."
• California, whose eServices offices focus on matching boomers’ desire to serve with specific labor shortages, such as the demand for math and science teachers and qualified managers in the public sector.
• Maryland, which enacted a Baby Boomer Initiative Act in 2007, creating the Boomer Initiative Council, which is tasked with developing a strategy to keep boomers engaged in their communities through work and volunteer opportunities.
• Massachusetts, whose governor has called for the creation of a Commonwealth Corps to give residents new opportunities to make significant commitments to service and in which legislation
  is being advanced that would create a Mature Worker Council.
• New York, where a package of eight bills has been introduced that are hoped will jumpstart the state’s efforts to prepare for an aging workforce.

In addition, eight states are participating with the National Governors Association and Civic Ventures in a year-long program to find ways to tap skills of older workers.

Source: Civic Ventures News Release (February 7, 2008)

Additional Source: USA Today "No time to relax: States want new retirees' experience" (February 22, 2008)

Massachusetts Facing Shrinkage of Prime Working Age Populaton

A study released by the Massachusetts Institute of a New Commonwealth (MassINC) and the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University has found that the Massachusetts labor force declined by 1.7% from 2003 to 2005 while the national labor force expanded by 3.1% and that most of those who left the labor force were men in two age groups--16- to 24-year-olds and 35- to 54-year-olds.

Thus, according to the study--“Mass Economy: the Labor Supply and Our Economic Future”--one fo the three critical factors for growth in the economy will be incorporating more older workers into the workforce. The combination of the aging of the baby boom generation the declining number of workers in what is considered the “prime working age years” (25-54 years old) will have the result that, in particular between 2010 and 2015, the graying of the Massachusetts labor force will accelerate further.

Source: MassInc and Center for Labor Market Studies Research Report (December 2006)

Other Sources: The Enterprise "Shrinking labor force threatens region" (December 10, 2006); Worcester Telegram "Report says Massachusetts is losing workers" (December 10, 2006)

Massachusetts: Boomers Poised To Redefine Retirement

Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, known as MassInc, has issued a report "A Generation in Transition: A Survey of Bay State Baby Boomers" in partnership with Princeton Survey Research Associates Intl. finding that, above all, boomers appear poised to redefine retirement. From a survey of over 1,000 boomers, MassInc reports that boomers expect to reverse the trend toward earlier withdrawal from the labor force by delaying their retirement and continuing to work at least parttime even after they retire. Boomers’ views about their retirement years are shaped by their finances today, which are not as strong as is often believed--excluding the equity in their homes, 30% have saved less than $50,000 for retirement, including 13% who have no retirement savings at all. Among those boomers who are planning to work after they retire, at least 39% expect to work out of financial necessity, not by choice.

In addition to the report, a roundtable discussion of it is available from WGBH.

Source: Press Release MassInc (November 2005)