July 29, 2009
Edited and Written by Ira S. Wolfe
Published by Success Performance Solutions. Major Sponsor,
2008 Best Places to Work In Pennsylvania
What's Inside this issue of The TotalView:
Are Delayed Retirements Making Us A Nation of Geezers?
The baby boomers are the first generation that will actually live too long. The oldest of the baby boomers turn 63 this year. They think they're never going to die. And everyone else is starting to worry they're right.
The Boomers reaped the greatest gain in life expectancy in all of human history during the 20th century, an increase of 30 years. Americans today can expect to live to be 77.7 years old. The government says we may even reach 79 by the year 2015. And in just 32 years, roughly one generation, the proportion of older people will double from 7% to 14% of the total world population.
The boomers are threatening the social order. According to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants President James Metzler, "70 is the new 65." In a recent survey, two-thirds of the Institute's clients said they would delay retirement and work an additional five years.
Some believe, especially younger workers, Boomers are poised to make us a Nation of Geezers. A combination of healthier living and advances in medicine will keep Boomers working and driving long after the age at which their grandparents quit. They'll be starting new careers, new businesses, and "reinventing" themselves well into their 70s and even 80s.
But this is not good news for anyone other than the boomers themselves. Our social institutions have not adjusted to this extended life expectancy. Lifelong marriage, for example, is one thing when you expect to live to be 60. It's quite another when there's a chance you may one day turn 110.
Boomers will be reaching the traditional retirement age of 65 over the next 20 years, but a mass exodus from the workplace is looking less likely every day, particularly in hard times. Boomer professionals aren't vacating the corner offices anytime soon; 70 percent say they're going to keep working.
So what are the implications of Boomers working longer? How has delayed retirement helped or hurt your career? Have Boomers blocked your career path or provided more opportunity for mentoring and knowledge transfer? Please send me your comments or visit my blog to post your comments.
Perfect Labor Storm Warnings 
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics identifies
271 jobs with high-growth potential over the next
10 years; 71 are likely to increase by 20 percent or
more during this period. All of these jobs require
at least some college education; most require one or more college degrees.
For more workforce and hiring trends. subscribe to the Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 blog.
Purchase the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 books (soft and hard cover versions) at PerfectLaborStorm.com.
Does your workforce have the cognitive skills to thrive?
Critical thinking and problem solving skills, also called "cognitive skills," differentiate economic leaders from the laggards among 50 countries from 1960 to 2000, according Stanford researcher Eric Hanushek: "A highly skilled work force can raise economic growth by about two-thirds of a percentage point every year... Higher levels of cognitive skill appear to play a major role in explaining international differences in economic growth."
Cognitive skills are significantly more important in determining economic outcomes than a traditional measure of educational success: school attainment. "Increasing the average number of years of schooling attained by the labor force boosts the economy only when increased levels of school attainment also boost cognitive skills. In other words, it is not enough simply to spend more time in
school; something has to be learned there."
Cognitive skills are important for everyone. It's not enough to educate a few highly skilled "rocket scientists." "In countries on the technological frontier, substantial numbers of scientists, engineers, and other innovators are obviously needed. But so is a labor force that has the technological skills to survive in a technologically driven economy." "General Mental Ability (cognitive skills) is the best single predictor of performance, job competence and flexibility."
David Bartram, a world renowned psychometrician and former President of the International Test Commission.
The Prevue Learning & Reasoning Assessment provides critical information about an individual's capacity to learn and use information, develop skills, solve problems, and understand instructions. Learn more about testing cognitive skills.
Test for Office Skills Accurate & Affordable
eSkill assessments are an effective method of ensuring your candidates have the skills needed for your jobs before an extensive interview process. eSkill's online testing tool creates valid, job-based tests by combining multiple subjects and skill levels as needed into a single assessment.
- Accounting
- Bookkeeping
- Arithmetic
- English and grammar
Click here to learn more
Quotes from Hire Authorities
"Your ability to act on your imagination is going to
be so decisive in driving your future and the standard
of living of your country. So the school, the state, the country that empowers, nurtures, enables imagination
among its students and citizens, that's who's going to be
the winner."
Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times columnist
| |
|
Follow us on |
Permission is granted to consultants, managers, business owners and
HR professionals to reproduce content from this newsletter for your
internal publications, or to distribute copies to your workforce, on
the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information
as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Ira S Wolfe and Success
Performance Solutions. Copyright 2008 Ira S Wolfe." We also hope you
will forward the newsletter in its entirety and recommend to others
that they subscribe.
Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2009 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only. |
