Senior Community Service Employment Program

Projections indicate that Alabama will be substantially impacted by the “graying” of its population over the coming two decades. In fact, its aging rate will outpace developments in most other states and the nation. The pool of persons ages 65 and older is projected to grow by 50% over the next twenty years, compared to only a 8.8% growth rate for the state’s total population. Persons age 65 and older will account for nearly 75% of the projected increase in the nation’s working-age population in the next decade, a historically unprecedented development. Alabama will be a part of this dramatic shift in the workforce.

What does this mean to the employment situation for older workers in Alabama?

It means tremendous opportunity for seniors who want to stay in the workforce or re-enter it after having retired. Many leading national corporations like Home Depot and CVS have discovered the value of the older worker and have put programs in place to keep older workers on staff or hire them back as consultants. Those companies that choose to ignore this “age wave” will struggle to keep their workforce intact in the very near future. Due to the decrease in the number of young people entering the workforce, jobs will be there for older workers who want to work.

These demographic and labor force changes in Alabama in the coming decade will pose several important challenges for the state’s private and public sector employees and the workforce development system as a whole. In the years ahead, most employers will have to substantially increase the number of older workers on their payrolls and restructure their hiring practices to accommodate greater numbers of older workers.

Some of the strategies we will utilize include the following:

• Provide a single point of entry through our 350 plus Senior Centers in the state, who will work closely with the One Stop Career Centers.
• Develop training for employers that clearly defines the benefits of retaining mature workers.
• Conduct statewide outreach to mature adults to create a new way of thinking about retirement, and to make individuals aware of the educational opportunities available to the mature worker.
• Analyze possible disincentives that exist in the current system that would discourage the involvement of older Alabamians.

The Alabama SCSEP program will strive to improve the employability of our seniors, and extend the work lives of older Alabamians, especially the economically disadvantaged.