The way we do our jobs continues to change. Technology in some form or another is part of almost every industry now, and we need to make certain that we keep older adults up-to-date in the skills needed for them to remain in or rejoin the workforce and thrive.
"Older workers clearly are not getting equal access to the workforce," says Gary Officer, founder and CEO of CWI Labs. "Every month, the jobs report in this country will confirm that there's a 37% labor force participation rate for Americans who are 50 and over. That number has been static for the last 18 months. That's not a sign of progress. That's a sign of stagnation."
Officer says that until we are able to address the "fundamental issues around workforce opportunities tied to workforce training, tied to opportunities to secure employment that fits people's skillsets and aspirations, those numbers will not change."
WorkingNation editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim interviewed Officer and 9 other leading voices on the subject of age today, particularly when it comes to older and midcareer adults in the workforce, as part of the Age in America WorkingNation collaboration with Scripps News which begins on-air on June 17.
Find Scripps News tune-in information here: www.scrippsnews.com/live
For this online and written interview series, Ramona and her guests talked about the impact of ageism on hiring and promotions, the benefits to employers of hiring midcareer and older workers, and how a multigenerational workplace can end up helping workers young and old. They also discussed why some adults over the age of 65 need to work or want to work and what it means for our economy and society if they are left out of the workforce.
We'll be adding more of these short interviews here on our WorkingNation KZfaq channel. So bookmark the page and check back each day.
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