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Remarks Prepared for Delivery by
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
AARP “Best Employers for Workers Over 50” Awards
Dinner
New York, New York
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Thank you Bill [Novelli, CEO of AARP]. The U.S. Labor Department
is proud to be working with you and the AARP to help America's older workers.
Let me also recognize Dawn Sweeney, Marie Smith [President of the AARP
Board of Directors]; tonight's special guest, Candace Bergen, and
the local Workforce Investment Board members who are in our audience.
I'm so pleased to be here for the 3rd straight year at the AARP's annual
dinner for Best Employers for Workers Over 50. This year, 35 companies—this
is 19 more than two years ago—are being recognized for their leadership
in recruiting, promoting and retraining older workers.
This week is also National Employ Older Americans week. So it's the perfect
time to celebrate the achievements of America's older workers.
As all of you in this room know, older workers are a large and growing segment
of our nation's workforce, which numbers 148 million people strong. Workers
aged 55 and older are projected to grow at four times the rate of the
labor force overall—the fastest growth rates of any age group. Today,
older workers are 15 percent of the American workforce. By 2012, they will
be 19 percent, or nearly one-fifth of the American labor force.
The news on older workers continues to improve.
Since 2001, employment among persons ages 55-64 has increased. In fact,
the unemployment rate for older workers is 3.7 percent, versus the national
unemployment rate of 5.4 percent. And median wages and earnings for full-time
older workers have grown at a faster rate than for any other age group since
2001. This means that, on average, older workers have lower unemployment
rates and higher earnings growth rates than any other age group.
Clearly, older workers are an increasingly important part of the nation's
workforce.
Nowhere is the case stronger for tapping the skills of these older workers
than with employers facing the skills gap. Since August 2003, 1.7 million
new jobs have been created.
Many of today's jobs require upgraded skills or some form of higher education.
That doesn't necessarily mean a 4-year college degree. It can mean skills
learned on the job or professional certification pursued through community
colleges and apprenticeship programs in the skilled trades.
To respond to this urgent national need, the President has requested $23
billion in 31 different worker training programs across the government for
the coming year.
The President has also proposed Comp Time and Flex Time initiatives, which
are especially relevant to older workers. Surveys—such as AARP's Best
Practices Report—show that flexible workplace policies are the keys
to retaining older workers.
Today, government workers have the option of choosing paid time off as an
alternative to overtime, so they can take care of family and personal needs.
Government workers also have the option of re-arranging their work hours
from week to week. Private sector workers don't have this flexibility. This
Administration wants to ensure that all private sector workers, especially
America's older workers, have these same options as government workers.
Now, one of the reasons why the employment outlook for older workers is
so positive is that many of them work in health care, where hiring is strong.
In fact, it's difficult to overstate the extent
of the need for health care workers with critical skills. According to expert
surveys, our country will create 3.5 million more health care jobs by 2012.
The shortage is especially acute in skilled nursing, where experts predict
we need more than 1 million registered nurses.
It will come as no surprise to the health care companies honored tonight
that the average age of registered nurses in America today is about 45 years
old. The number of registered nurses under 30 years of age continues to drop,
from 25% in 1980 to only 9% in 2000. At the same time, many registered nurses
are coming into this profession as a second career. Keeping them in the workforce
is crucial to the health of our nation's health care system.
That's why the President's Jobs for the 21st Century and High Growth Jobs
Training initiative are so important. The Jobs for the 21st Century Initiative
includes $500 million to fund partnerships between community colleges and
employers in high-demand job sectors like health care. The local Workforce
Investment Boards are the catalysts in developing these partnerships. The
goal is to ensure that the education and training community has in place—or
is developing—the curricula necessary to teach the skills identified by employers
in their communities.
Some of the industries that the Department has identified as high growth
sectors include health care, biotechnology, education, financial services,
high-tech manufacturing, retail services, skilled trades and geospatial technology.
The Labor Department has already awarded $92 million to 47 partnerships dedicated
to training workers for these industries across the country.
Making health care more affordable is another key issue for America's older
workers. That's why the President pushed an historic prescription drug plan
through Congress. I want to thank the AARP for supporting the prescription
drug benefits plan recently adopted by the Congress. This is an important
new Medicare benefit for seniors.
In addition, the President signed into law Health Savings Accounts, which
give consumers more control of their health care dollars. And he has proposed
Association Health Plans to allow small employers to pool their risk and
offer lower cost health insurance to more employees—just like union and large
companies.
Lastly, it's also important to reduce the burden of frivolous lawsuits on
our economy, which are driving up the costs of health care and driving physicians
out of this noble profession.
We are committed to helping older workers enjoy enriching and diverse career
options and quality of life. The strong work ethic, commitment to lifelong
learning, and adaptability of older workers have served them well and enrich
our nation.
So I salute all of tonight's honorees for their leadership in nurturing
this extraordinary pool of talent, who have given so much to our country.
We hope more companies will emulate your shining example.
Thank you.
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