**Employment Opportunities for Older Workers**

July 31, 2006

**Flexibility of the Workplace/Customized
Employment/Self-Employment/Career Transitions for Older Workers'
Synthesis**

*"I believe that the aging population is the most critical issue facing
the developed world."*

*--* Jeremy Siegel, Wharton Finance Professor and leading expert on
stock markets (2006)

*"Today (2030) age 65 is not old. In fact it is considered barely middle
age! People are living and maintaining vitality, a phenomenon known as
down aging. While as recently as 2001, a 65-year old could expect to
live an average of another 20 years, today a healthy 65-year old looks
forward to an average of another 35-40 years."*

*-- Glen* Hiemstra, Futurist and host of www.futurist.com

*" Remember, the worst diseases of old age may be boredom and loneliness
. . . Work on."*

*--* Carleen MacKay, Futurist, Spherion.com

**[Statement of Issue]{.underline}**

In 2006, the United States begins an 18-year demographic bulge in which
about four million people---20 percent more than in previous
years---will leave their full-time jobs each year henceforth and either
stay where they are or purchase a retirement home somewhere else.[^1]
Many older workers will either retire completely from the workforce,
work part time with phased-in retirement programs, take extended leaves
or sabbaticals from their jobs, begin second careers, start new
businesses or cultivate existing ones, and volunteer their time to
civic, religious, or social organizations.

According to the AARP Work and Career Study, there is ". . . little
doubt that 45+ workers want to remain engaged in the workforce well past
traditional 'retirement age'." Sixty-nine percent say they want to work
into their retirement years, but they want to finish out the later
stages of their work lives in different roles and on different terms
than before. More than a third (34 percent) say that during retirement
they plan to work on a part-time basis "for interest and enjoyment" and
six percent intend to work full-time in a new career altogether.[^2]

**[Background Research on the Issue]{.underline}**

The following statistics support the realities, challenges, and
opportunities facing older workers:

-   The U.S. labor force is growing less than one percent annually, and
    the number of available workers between 25 and 44 will decrease.[^3]

-   The average age of a worker will increase from 35.9 years in 1988 to
    40.7 years in 2008.[^4]

-   U.S. Census reports that by 2030, almost 58 million of the baby
    boomers will still be living. In 2006 3.3 workers support each
    Social Security beneficiary; by 2030, only 2.1 workers will support
    such beneficiaries.

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-   About 25-50 percent use "bridge jobs" to make the transition from
    full-time career work to complete retirement[^5]

-   Non-traditional employment arrangements such as independent
    contractors, home-based work, part-time work, and bridge jobs are
    important to older workers, but opportunities for part-time work may
    be insufficient to meet their needs.[^6]

-   A survey of 1,000 U.S. companies and 5,111 adults, showed that 71
    percent of these adults' ideal retirement would be to work in some
    capacity; two-thirds of which would prefer a new career; 84 percent
    of the companies expect their older workers will shift to part-time
    schedules after their retirement ages; only 17 percent of adults
    claimed this part-time shift as their goal with 38 percent preferred
    cycling between work and leisure.[^7]

-   Only 24 percent of employers offer formal flex-time programs, 12
    percent offer telecommuting, and 11 percent offer job sharing.[^8]

-   Many companies do not plan to implement work/life balance
    programs---61 percent without plans for job sharing, 56 percent
    without telecommuting plans, and 33 percent will not offer
    flextime.[^9]

-   About 25 percent of adults 60 and older reporting they wanted to
    work claimed they had difficulty finding jobs; 80 percent believed
    their age was the reason.[^10]

-   Rates of self-employment rise with age:

    -   In 2002, workers 45 and older represented 38 percent of the
        workforce, but 54 percent of the self-employed (in
        unincorporated businesses only).[^11]

    -   31.2 percent of older workers.[^12]

    -   50 or older, 16.4 percent (5.6 million workers).[^13]

    -   60-64, 22 percent.

    -   65-69, 30 percent.

    -   70+, 42 percent.[^14]

    -   Small Business Administration believes that the number of
        self-employed grew by 50 percent between 1996 and 2006, due to
        older entrepreneurs.[^15]

    -   17 percent of baby boomers expect to be self-employed when they
        retire.[^16]

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-   People with disabilities have a higher rate of self-employment and
    small business experience (12.2 percent) than people without
    disabilities (7.8 percent) (1990 National Census); and 40 percent of
    home-based businesses are operated by people with disabilities
    (Disabled Businessman's Association).

-   In 2000, 24 million U.S. teleworkers (a 20 percent increase
    over 1999) (International Telework Association and Council); 137
    million teleworkers in 2003 (Gartner Group).

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-   Almost 23 percent of Americans 65 and older volunteer with religious
    organizations; about 18 percent support social or civic
    organizations.[^17]

-   Full- or part-time workers volunteer at a higher rate than those who
    are either retired or unemployed.[^18]

The decline in the number of workers and the desires and needs of older
workers compel companies to retool their recruitment and retention
strategies, productivity incentives, benefit packages, work schedules,
and work systems, most of which were created for a different generation
of workers with different lifestyles and working environments.

However, most companies do not meet the desire of older workers to
remain in their career jobs. According to the International Longevity
Center-USA,

> Organizational barriers to part-time employment and other flexible
> work arrangements often exist in firms when standardization of work
> schedules is necessary for efficient production. Employers also may be
> reluctant to offer part-time work because of the costs associated with
> maintaining pension plans and fringe benefits.[^19]

From the employee's perspective, the lack of part-time jobs with the
same benefits, working conditions, and hourly pay as full-time work
provides an incentive to exit the labor force altogether.

**Flexibility of the Workplace/Customized Employment**

To address this pending worker shortage and the desires of older
workers, one of the most strategic and competitive tools for employers
is to adopt flexibility and customized employment policies. Flexibility
is in high demand by both the emerging and aging workforce.

Flexibility of the workplace and customized employment are two important
factors for older individuals to accommodate their current or potential
disabling conditions, to maximize their social and economic empowerment,
and to provide a nondiscriminatory employment environment. Some types of
flexible or customized work environments for older workers include
telework, self-employment, and phased-in retirement options whereby
older workers may continue to work on a part-time basis or as a
consultant at their present or new jobs while receiving partial
retirement benefits.

Flexibility, according to the When Work Works project of the Families
and Work Institute, "is a way to define how and when work gets done and
how careers are organized . . . a critical ingredient to overall
workplace effectiveness."[^20] Flexibility is used by companies as a
competitive tool to improve recruitment and retention, manage workload,
and respond to employee diversity, which includes employees with
disabilities. Research data indicates that flexibility also improves
employee engagement and job satisfaction and reduces stress.

Key options in workplace flexibility include: (1) Flex Time such as
traditional flextime (employees choose their start and end times within
a range of core-operating hours of the company), daily flex time
(employees choose their start and end times within a range of hours
within a range of core-operating hours on a daily basis), and compressed
work week (enables employees to work their allotted hours over fewer
days---such as 10 hours per day over 4 days, or 80 hours over 9 days,
rather than 8 hours a day); (2) Reduced Time that can encompass
part-time or part-year work; (3) Flex Leaves such as needs for personal
time off to address personal or family medical issues, child care
illnesses, adult parents' illness or disability needs, or parental leave
during the birth, adoption, or care of a foster child. This type of
leave is addressed in the Family and Medical Leave Act; Flex-Careers
that includes multiple points for entry, exit, and re-entry over the
course of one career or working life, such as formal leaves and
sabbaticals; and (4) Flex-Place---working some or most of one's
regularly scheduled hours at a location other than the main location of
the employer's facility. Flex-Place can include primary and occasional
arrangements.[^21] Another strategy is customized employment, which can
incorporate any or all of the above options as well as the additional
option of flexibility around specific job tasks.

Preliminary customized employment policy declarations for individuals
with disabilities, previously considered unemployable, validate that
customized employment: (1) produces high-quality employment with
increased wages, benefits, and level of integration into the community
(35.0 percent were earning more than \$8.15 an hour, with the rest of
the sample earning at or above minimum wage); (2) reduces reliance on
public benefits (percent of TANF recipients declined by 72.7 percent,
food stamp holders by 24.5 percent, and SSI and SSDI beneficiaries by
28.3 and 32.6 percent, respectively); (3) results in employment of other
groups of people considered "hard to serve," such as TANF recipients,
older workers, veterans, individuals with mental health disabilities,
refugees, and ex-offenders; (4) increases efficiency through new
partnerships and blending and braiding funding sources among new and
traditional partners to collaborate with the One Stop Career Centers
(e.g., Medicaid, Social Security, Department of Education, Veterans,
Mental Health, MR/DD, and TANF); (5) changes the way employment systems
are organized and operated, resulting in more effective services and
outcomes (individualization and negotiation are becoming new ways of
thinking about job matching and relationship building for employer
outreach; (6) assists employers in retaining valuable staff; and (7)
assists employers in addressing specific conditions within their
businesses that require attention.[^22]

Flexibility creates a work/life balance. In a world that has become more
uncertain due to the threat of terrorism and the downfall of large,
mainstream companies, employees are choosing their personal lives over
their careers. According to Spherion's *Emerging Workforce ® Study*, 73
percent of workers choose to have their careers take a backseat to
having core time for their families.[^23] With the growing labor
shortage that could see 10 million more jobs in 2010 than workers,
work/life balance options which include flexibility and customized
employment, employers will need to adopt these as their recruitment and
retention benefits. According to Roy Krause, Spherion president and CEO,
"Employers that choose not to react could seriously hamper their ability
to compete for top talent, especially as continued demographic and
attitudinal shifts amplify this issue."

Customized Employment is a key strategy to assist everyone with complex
lives, including but not limited to individuals with disabilities, who
want to work but face some challenges in finding jobs that fit their
needs and desires. Customized Employment individualizes the employment
relationship between job seekers and employers to meet the needs of
both. It is based on a personalized determination of the strengths,
requirements, and interests of a person with a complex life. Customized
Employment is not a program, but rather a set of principles and
strategies that result in negotiated employment relationships.
Customized employment can embrace all the types of flexibility options
described above. Customized Employment provides significant flexibility
both around hours and leave, but also the actual job tasks themselves,
which are negotiated to meet the needs of both the individual and the
employer.

In a 2006 study, DiversityInc.com reports that the top 10 companies for
people with disabilities "create a culture of flexibility" for their
workers.[^24] Since statistics show that 70 percent of people age 70 and
over have some type of disability, it behooves employers to foster such
a culture of flexibility in their workplaces.

Spherion's previous Emerging Workforce ® studies identified a new breed
of American worker---called the "emergent worker." Emergent workers,
nearly one third of workers today and projected to be the majority of
all workers in 2007, are "confident, self-reliant and distinguishable by
a set of workplace values and expectations that vary drastically from
what managers have previously encountered." [^25] The more traditionally
minded workers of the past are expected to almost vanish.

While Spherion's previous studies tracked the emergent worker as a new
breed of employee, it was not until 2005 that Spherion had collected
hard data on the different types of employers---traditional, migrating,
and emergent. The 2005 data shows that only 19 percent of employers can
be classified as emergent with the progressive mindset to offer flexible
and customized employment policies. Emergent employers:

-   Adopt work/life balance programs, training, and development options
    and regular surveys of employees to identify specific retention
    drivers.

-   Harvest benefits such as increased flexibility, cost savings, and
    ability to weather economic fluctuations by hiring the right mix of
    full-time and contingent resources.

-   Utilize best HR practices which can help them achieve greater
    financial success and employee growth than more traditional
    organizations.

To reinforce this trend of the emergent worker, a recent Monster webcast
addressed the top career priorities of Generation "Y" workers. What's
significant is that the need for flexible and customized employment
options Generation "Y" seeks are very similar to those of older workers.
Among many needs, both groups want fewer hours, flexible working
arrangements, and work/life balance. The major difference seems to be
that the "Y" generation *expects* these priorities to be met by their
employers while older workers *hope* for them to be met.

The Milken Institute reports that the U.S. retirement age might
stabilize at 68 *if* we increase productivity and have enough older
workers earning income. However, it is far more likely that Americans
will need to work well into their seventies. Because of economic needs,
boomers may need to continue working past the traditional retirement age
and will need a continued, active income beyond meager savings or
retirement plans. *Money Magazine* claims that boomers account for more
than half of U.S. spending. If what health experts predict for boomers
having longer lifetimes and the increasing costs of healthcare, the
future of the American economy may be at risk.

Because of all these trends, it behooves employers to embrace the
concepts of flexibility and customized employment for the *entire*
workforce.

In May 2004, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported that more than 27 million full-time wage and salary workers had
flexible work schedules that allowed them to vary the time they began or
ended work.

The Work & Family Connection has developed the following definition of a
flexible work environment: "Work-life is the practice of providing
initiatives designed to create a more flexible, supportive work
environment, enabling employees to focus on work tasks while at work. It
includes making the culture more supportive, adding programs to meet
life event needs, ensuring that policies give employees as much control
as possible over their lives, and using flexible work practices as a
strategy to meet the dual agenda---the needs of both business and
employees."[^26]

According to the Work & Family Connection's When Work Works website:

Work/life initiatives generate goodwill and lead to:

> 1\) being an employer of choice because of the ability to attract and
> retain talented employees who have the potential to become the future
> leaders of your organization. Reduced turnover also means less time
> and money spent on recruitment and training.
>
> 2\) fully engaged employees who are often more loyal and committed,
> have higher job satisfaction and are more productive.
>
> 3\) reduced employee stress, absenteeism and health-care costs.
>
> 4\) improved service which is a result of happier employees
> interacting with your customers.

Research continues to reinforce these findings. A 2000 study by Watson
Wyatt Worldwide (http://www.watsonwyatt.com/) found that companies with
highly committed employees had a 112 percent return to shareholders over
three years, compared to 90 percent for companies with average
commitment, and 76 percent for companies with low commitment.

To manage the needs of older workers for flexibility and customized
employment, wise employers are offering such benefits as high-deductible
health savings accounts to help bridge the early retirement-Medicare
gap. Other employers offer investment advice and/or annuity products in
their retirement packages. According to Paul Pasteris, senior vice
president for New York Life Insurance Company, "there will be an
emergence of guaranteed products inside 401(k) plans," and more
flexible-provision annuities, such as inflation protection and emergency
cash-outs may be offered by employers in the near future.

Three trends, telework, self-employment, and phased-in retirement, are
increasing flexible and

customized employment options for all workers, of which older workers
are embracing.

**Telework**

Telework, also called telecommuting, opens the door to flexibility in
meeting the needs and challenges of the emergent worker, which includes
older workers, as well as those of employers. Businesses that choose to
understand the employment needs of non-traditional employees, such as
older, retired, and part-time workers and people with disabilities and
pursue such employees increase their available labor pool and do not
restrict where the businesses or the employees are physically
located.[^27]

In the recent Telework Benchmarking Study (2006) conducted by the
Telework Coalition, Inc., the participating organizations reported a
number of unexpected consequences from their use of telework programs.
Such consequences included greater flexibility for employees to relocate
to other parts of the country, greater ability to maintain business
continuity in response to natural or man-made disasters, lower turn-over
rates and better performance for teleworking employees, access to a
larger number of qualified applicants, and fewer layoffs for teleworkers
than their office-based counterparts.[^28]

According to a recent telecommuting company's, LivOps, survey of almost
2,000 at-home call center agents, about 36 percent of these
telecommuting customer service agents say gas prices have driven their
decision to work at home.

Another study, conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management,
found that telecommuting is among the top five flexible and customized
approaches being used by companies to help employees deal with increased
gas prices.

A 2005 U.S. Department of Labor-funded study noted that for companies to
prosper, they will need "to proactively look for creative and innovative
methods to recruit, develop, and retain high performing individuals by
meeting workforce expectations, needs, and desires."[^29]

However, the new Access to Telework Funds program, funded by the
Rehabilitation Services Administration of the U.S. Department of
Education, to assist individuals with disabilities indicates that
partnerships from One-Stop Centers and state departments of
rehabilitation/ vocational rehabilitation range from very close to
difficult cooperation. Several of the state-funded telework funds
program report that the difficulties stem from lack of awareness about
what telework is, how it can flexibly work, and how it can be applied to
people with a diverse range of disabilities.[^30]

**Self-Employment**

As noted in the statistics listed in the first part of this Background
Research section, self-employment rates rise at older ages. An
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 2005 report
on U.S. aging and employment policies suggests that switching from
working as a wage and salary worker to self-employment may be a way of
phasing into retirement for some workers.[^31] The self-employed may be
less constrained in their choice of hours than employees, and thus may
be better able to accommodate any work-limiting conditions. Research
suggests that the self-employed at older ages are able to work longer
even despite poorer health, and to work with more flexibility in hours.

Compared to their salaried counterparts, the self-employed are older,
are more likely to be male, white, married and college educated; and are
more likely to be healthier, but to have a health condition that limits
their work. Also, the self-employed are more likely to be working part
time and to have family-owned businesses or spouses who are also
self-employed than salaried workers. There may be greater flexibility
among the self-employed to reduce their hours of work rather than
completely retire from the work force.[^32] The self-employed have
substantially higher household incomes and financial wealth than their
wage and salary counterparts. Among self-employed workers age 51 and
over, 34 percent have employer-provided health insurance compared with
67 percent among wage and salary workers of the same age.

A growing fraction of self employment is in incorporated businesses, a
category of self-employment that is not officially counted by the U.S.
Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).[^33] According
to BLS, "the fact that this form of business organization is not
officially tracked as a form of self-employment in U.S. labor force
statistics may conceal changes in underlying rates of self-employment,
particularly among older workers, where up to one-third are in
incorporated businesses."[^34]

An AARP study noted that workers tend to be "pushed" or "pulled" to
self-employment. For example, older workers may be forced out of wage
and salary work into self-employment because of poor health, while
greater personal wealth and more education (especially for men) may pull
them toward self-employment. A Social Security Administration paper
notes that self-employment appears to permit low earners to extend their
work life.[^35] A follow-up AARP study underway is examining the nature
of the work of older self-employed workers, the transition in and out of
self-employment at ages 50 and above, and the consequences of shifts to
self-employment for retirement assets.

The OECD 2005 report claims that any policy measures to promote
self-employment should take into account the diversity of situations
that are driving the decisions of older workers to become self-employed.
The report suggests that particular attention should be paid to the
factors driving shifts to self-employment among female older workers,
given that on average they were less likely to be financially well off
than their male counterparts and more likely to have been "pushed"
rather than "pulled" into self-employment. The Women's Bureau at the
U.S. Department of Labor's 2005 statistics show that approximately 4
million women were self-employed in nonagricultural industries,
representing 5 percent of all employed women.[^36] Another important
issue is the lack of health insurance coverage for the self-employed.

A study of the older entrepreneurs found that older Americans are
increasingly interested in entrepreneurship and becoming
entrepreneurs.[^37] This increased interest in entrepreneurship is due
to three factors: (1) as lifespan increases, there are more "once
younger" entrepreneurs finding themselves now older entrepreneurs; (2)
due to the phenomenon of early retirement, many executives and managers
are in excellent health and financial means who are interested in
pursuing entrepreneurship as an alternative to retirement; and (3) more
older managers are catching the entrepreneurship "bug" and setting out
on their own to pursue second careers. For example, the *Wall Street
Journal* reports that early retirees have flocked to venture capital
firms seeking financing for their projects. Also, a number of firms have
provided early retirees counseling and workshops on starting a business
as a part of their outplacement programs. In addition, more ex-managers
in their 40s and 50s are seeking to turn their hobbies into full-time
businesses.

However, while many older workers successfully start their own
businesses, for many, barriers block them in doing so. For example, some
workers may not be able to access the capital needed to start a business
because they lack satisfactory credit or assets to use as collateral for
a loan. Also, they may not have the information or resources they need
to develop an effective business plan. A UK survey of would-be
entrepreneurs shows the primary perceived barriers to starting a
business are: fear of debt (51 percent); difficulty in getting financing
(50 percent); fear of failure (47 percent); losing current income (37
percent); and complexity of regulations (33 percent).[^38]

**Phased-In Retirement/Career Transitions**

A June 8, 2005 *USA Today* article claims that phased-in retirement
programs are not yet universally available. Thus, many companies do not
offer this type of flexibility to their older workers. In fact,
different government regulations limit how and when pensions and
benefits are paid out and how "retirement" is defined. To provide more
flexibility with phased-in retirement, changes in the current
legislation may be required.[^39]

Because of these limiting regulations, most companies currently offering
phased-in plans either do not offer defined-benefit pensions or they
require workers to retire for six months and return to work on a
part-time basis only. Such phased-in retirement options may be
satisfactory to older workers seeking this type of flexibility. Such
flexible phased-in retirement options can present advantages to older
workers who may wish to take an extended vacation or travel abroad
before returning to their previous or a new job.

Yet challenges and barriers exist for older workers seeking to reenter
the job market, either after retirement or displacement. They need to
educate themselves of the characteristics of the labor market they face,
as the types of jobs available to them will be limited by their work
experience, salary requirements, competition from other cohorts, and the
attitudes of employers in a specific industry.[^40]

Older people, who wish to continue working, either in their current
field or in a second career, need to remain competitive by updating
their skills either by educating themselves on state-of-the-art
information and technology in their current field or in earning another
or a new degree. Older workers will also need to learn how to market
themselves, emphasizing their professional maturity, years of
experience, and work ethic.[^41]

Yet despite this lack of a universal, cohesive phased-in retirement
program, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics
reports that one-half to two-thirds of their survey pool (ages 51-61)
respondents "with full-time career jobs take on bridge jobs before
exiting the labor force completely."[^42] The findings also show that
"bridge job behavior is most common among younger respondents,
respondents without defined-benefit pension plans, and respondents at
the lower- and upper-end of the wage distribution." The research
suggests that "traditional retirements will be the exception rather than
the rule."[^43]

These trends are paralleled by Merrill Lynch's *New Retirement Survey*
conducted in 2005. James P. Gorman, president of Merrill Lynch's Global
Private Client Group states: \"Baby boomers fundamentally will reinvent
retirement, and this has profound implications for how we at Merrill
Lynch need to advise this generation of clients---individuals as well as
retirement plan sponsors . . . \[w\]With boomers living longer and
remaining engaged and employed beyond age 65, many of the traditional
financial assumptions regarding retirement need to be reexamined."[^44]

**[Conclusion]{.underline}**

Flexibility of the workplace and customized employment are two key
factors in the career patterns of older workers in the 21^st^ century.
To attract and retain talented workers to the waning job force, shrewd
employers will embrace various forms of flexible employment arrangements
from various types of flex-time options, telework, phased-in retirement
work schedules, and other forms of customized arrangements. In addition,
self-employment is a growing trend of older workers, comprising more
than half of the total population of those who are self-employed.
Lastly, transitions to new careers is another avenue older workers seek
in their quest for additional "retirement" income and a desirable
work/life balance.

**[Current Efforts Underway]{.underline}**

[Flexibility of the Workplace/Customized Employment]{.underline}

-   U.S. Department of Labor's *A Protocol for Serving Older Workers*
    which inspires the workforce investment system to pursue innovative
    strategies for serving the older worker labor pool and connecting
    them with the job market. (U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and
    Training Administration, November 3, 2004.)

> On January 31, 2006, DOL's Office of Workforce Investment (OWI) issued
> the *Protocol* to all state workforce agencies, all state workforce
> liaisons, and all One-Stop Career Center leads. According to the OWI's
> Training and Employment Notice (TEN 16-04) at DOL, the *Protocol*
> "outlines a set of action steps that key stakeholders need to embrace
> to achieve the stated goal of connecting employers to older workers
> and older workers to jobs." The notice encourages employers to develop
> strategies to address the impending worker shortage "by providing
> workforce services to older Americans and exploring ways for engaging
> older workers in response to the rapidly changing skills demands of
> business." The notice alerts the workforce investment system to the
> larger number of older workers by ensuring that the One-Stop Career
> Centers' services are prepared to offer full services to this audience
> and to foster partnerships with business and industry and mature
> worker intermediaries. Lastly, the notice ask businesses to "develop
> strategies to attract and retain older workers, such as introducing
> alternative work arrangements and phased retirement programs."

-   U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy
    (ODEP) funds 20 customized employment grants.

> The mission of these strategic planning, demonstration, and systems
> change grants is to improve the quality of employment outcomes for
> people with disabilities, resulting in competitive jobs, in integrated
> employment settings in the community that provide career advancement
> and pay at least minimum wage. These projects achieve these outcomes
> through the provision of customized employment services delivered via
> the One-Stop delivery system. Customized employment services may
> include strategies such as job carving, self-employment, supported
> employment, job restructuring, providing natural supports, and other
> job development strategies that are individually determined and
> customized to the needs of the individual. Also funded by ODEP, the
> National Center on Workforce and Disability/Adult, located in Boston,
> Massachusetts, provides technical assistance to these customized
> employment projects.

-   U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy's
    Employer Assistance and Recruiting Network (EARN) have partnered
    with CVS Pharmacy to develop a corporate sponsorship to increase
    career opportunities for individuals with disabilities. In the
    summer of 2006, CVS/Pharmacy will host five pilot programs that
    include older adults with disabilities at sites in northern Virginia
    and Boston, Massachusetts. These projects will be co-developed with
    ODEP's customized employment grants.

-   The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published *Career
    Patterns---A 21^st^ Century Approach to Attracting Talent: A Guide
    for Agencies* in June 2006.[^45] Planned to launch in 2007, this
    initiative will serve as a new recruitment and retention approach
    for federal agencies "to build new environments to recruit potential
    employees." One key recruitment approach OPM recommends if flexible
    arrangements (detached from office, job sharers, non-traditional
    time of day, part-time, and irregular schedule). This OPM initiative
    aims at making the federal government a more attractive employer by
    offering increased flexibility and better work-life balance to
    potential employees who are not looking for the traditional 9-to-5
    job and a 30-year commitment to federal employment.

-   The U.S. Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services
    Administration (RSA) funds an Access to Telework Funds (ATFs)
    program in 20 states. These ATFs provide loans so individuals with
    disabilities to obtain computers and other equipment to work as
    employees or contractors or to become self-employed on a full-time
    or part-time basis.

-   The Internal Revenue Service has requested comments from businesses
    and individuals on proposals to change the rules for the "normal
    retirement age" to 59½ years of age.

-   AARP supports phased-in retirement at age 62 (Deborah Russell, AARP
    Director of economic security).

> [Self-Employment and Career Transitions]{.underline}

-   U.S. Department of Labor's Senior Community Service Employment
    Program provides part-time opportunities to low-income older workers
    aged 55 and over to work in community service while being trained
    for placement in private sector jobs.

-   One-Stop Career Centers, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor,
    under the Workforce Investment Act, assist people in training for
    and obtaining employment, including self-employment.

-   U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy's
    Small Business and Self-Employment Services for People with
    Disabilities (SBSES) offers information on its website for
    entrepreneurs with disabilities.

-   The Growing America Through Entrepreneurship (GATE)
    project---jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Labor's
    Employment and Training Administration and the U.S. Small Business
    Administration---assists emerging entrepreneurs in rural and urban
    communities.

> Project GATE seeks to energize local small business creation and help
> diverse urban and rural populations create, support and expand small
> businesses. Twenty-five percent of the participants in Project GATE
> were over the age of 50 (24 percent between the ages of 50 and 64) and
> the average age of the Project GATE participant is currently 42.

-   The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment
    Policy has initiated a range of activities with other federal
    agencies to ensure that federal employment programs for people with
    disabilities will promote small business ownership as a career
    option, and that potential entrepreneurs with disabilities know
    about the process and resources for starting a business.

-   The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has proposed legislation (as
    published in the *Federal Register*, July 21, 2006) to allow federal
    agency heads to request case-by-case clearance to hire retirees
    without deducting their government pensions from their paycheck,
    when there is exceptional difficulty in recruiting for particular
    positions that are not necessarily related to an emergency.

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-   The U.S. Department of Education under the Workforce Investment Act
    (Title I,

> Adult Education and Literacy Act) funds basic skills instruction
> through its Office
>
> of Vocational and Adult Education.

-   The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of
    Community Services offers discretionary funding to nonprofit
    organizations to support programs that create new employment
    opportunities for certain low-income individuals through
    self-employment, micro-enterprise, technical and financial
    assistance to private employers, new business development, and
    nontraditional projects.

-   The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of
    Community

> Services administers the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
>
> program which offers job preparation and work assistance to needy
> family
>
> members. Current trends are that more grandmothers are raising their
>
> grandchildren, many of which qualify for TANF assistance, especially
> with
>
> employment needs.

-   The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Community
    Services offers assistance to low-income individuals with employment
    and employment-related assistance through Community Services Block
    Grants.

-   The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Correctional Job Training
    and Placement, created by the Violent Crime Control and Law
    Enforcement Act of 1994, coordinates efforts of federal agencies and
    other nationwide organizations to improve job training and placement
    programs for offenders and ex-offenders, which includes older
    potential workers. This Office provides training and technical
    assistance to state and local training and employment agencies to
    advance offender job training and placement services.

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-   AARP's Working Options provides resources for older workers who are
    job hunting, changing careers, or thinking about starting their own
    businesses.

-   AARP offers a guide to Best Employers for Workers Over 50.

-   More than 1,100 Small Business Development Centers offer free or
    low-cost counseling, training, and technical assistance to
    individuals seeking to start their own business in communities
    across the nation.

-   The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), comprising more
    than 10,000 counselors at 389 offices nationwide, provides free,
    small business start-up advice through one-on-one counseling, group
    workshops, and online resources.

-   Microenterprise organizations, which can include capital development
    corporations, community and faith-based organizations, microloan
    funds, and venture capital firms offer access to capital and
    business planning expertise.

-   Business incubators, physical facilities that assist small
    businesses in getting started, provide office space, shared meeting
    rooms, and necessary computer and other equipment such as phones,
    fax machines, and copiers.

-   Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), which are matched savings
    accounts, can help individuals start a business. Currently, more
    than 500 IDA programs are offered by credit unions and community
    banks.

-   Experience Works!, a nationwide staffing service, provides temporary
    and permanent employment opportunities to older individuals,
    dislocated workers, and others.

-   Forty Plus is a career and job-hunting organization for individuals
    at least 40 years old, with managerial or professional experience
    and with annual earnings exceeding \$40,000.

-   RetiredBrains.com offers a website where older job seekers,
    including retired or about-to-retire workers, job listings for
    part-time, temporary, and full-time positions, post a resume, and
    register for an e-mail job search agent.

-   Retired Worker International, a job site for U.S. and Canadian job
    seekers who have retired but are now actively seeking work, provides
    job seekers job listings and the ability to post a skills summary
    and receive notification automatically when there is a match.

-   Retiree Careers, a job and career advice site for job seekers ages
    50 and above, offers job listings, resume posting ability,
    registering for a job search agent, and finding other career
    resources.

-   Senior Job Bank, a job site for job seekers aged 50+, presents areas
    where the job seeker can search for full-time, part-time, temporary,
    and volunteer jobs, post resumes, and register for a job search
    agent.

-   Senior Success, from XtremeRecruiting.com, is a collection of news
    and articles for working seniors.

-   Seniors4Hire, a job site for job seekers 50 and older, where the job
    seeker can search the job bank and company profiles of employers and
    apply directly to job postings of interest. The site also includes
    targeted career resources and articles for older workers.

[^1]: *Workers on Flexible and Shift Schedules in 2004 Summary*, U.S.
    Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Press Release, July
    1, 2005.

[^2]: Brown, S. K., *Staying Ahead of the Curve: The AARP Work and
    Career Study*, AARP, 2002.

[^3]: *Workers on Flexible and Shift Schedules in 2004 Summary*, U.S.
    Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Press Release, July
    1, 2005.

[^4]: Small Business Administration, *The Third Millennium: Small
    Business and Entrepreneurship in the 21^st^ Century*, 2000.

[^5]: Kenneth Knapp and Charlotte Muller, *Productive Lives: Paid and
    Unpaid Activities of Older Americans*, International Longevity
    Center-USA, 2000.

[^6]: Ibid.

[^7]: Kidd Stewart, Janet, "Coming Out of Retirement Won't Be that Easy
    to Do," *Chicago Tribune*, June 9 2006.

[^8]: Spherion Corporation, *Emerging Workforce ® Study*, conducted by
    Harris Interactive ®, 2005.

[^9]: Ibid.

[^10]: Kidd Stewart, Janet, "Coming Out of Retirement Won't Be that Easy
    to Do," *Chicago Tribune*, June 9 2006.

[^11]: Karoly, Lynn A. & Zissimopoulos, J., "Self-Employment among Older
    U.S. Workers," *Monthly Labor Review* (July 2004), U.S. Department
    of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[^12]: Ibid.

[^13]: *Self-Employment and the 50+ Population,* AARP, 2005.

[^14]: Butrica, Barbara, Schaner, Simone & Zedlewski, Sheila, "Enjoying
    the Golden Work Years," *Perspectives on Aging*, The Urban
    Institute, Washington, DC, 2006.

[^15]: Small Business Administration, *The Third Millennium: Small
    Business and Entrepreneurship in the 21^st^ Century*, Washington,
    DC, 2000.

[^16]: ^14^ AARP, *The Policy Book: AARP Public Policies 2004*,
    Washington, DC, 2004.

[^17]: National Institute on Aging, *Health and Retirement Study*,
    Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 2002.

[^18]: White, S. B. "Volunteering in the United States, 2005." *Monthly
    Labor Review*, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
    Washington, DC, February 2006.

[^19]: Knapp, Kenneth & Muller, Charlotte, *Paid and Unpaid Activities
    of Older Americans*, International Longevity Center-USA, 2000, p. 41

[^20]: Work & Family Connection,
    <http://familiesandwork.org/3w/links/case_for_flexibility.doc>

[^21]: Friedman, Dana E., "Supervisors' Guide to Flexibility," When Work
    Works, a project of Families and Work Institute sponsored by the
    Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in partnership with The Center for
    Workforce Preparation, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
    and The Center for Emerging Futures.

[^22]: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy,
    Employment Outcomes Analysis Project (EOAP), WESTAT, 2005.

[^23]: Spherion Corporation, *Emerging Workforce ® Study*, conducted by
    Harris Interactive ®, 2005.

[^24]: Millman, Jennifer, "Lessons from the Top 10 Companies for People
    with Disabilities, DiversityInc.com, July 13, 2006.

[^25]: Ibid.

[^26]: *When Work Works*, When Work Works, a project of Families and
    Work Institute sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in
    partnership with The Center for Workforce Preparation, an affiliate
    of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and The Center for Emerging Futures,
    (www.whenworkworks.org).

[^27]: The Rehabilitation Research & Training Center, Virginia
    Commonwealth University, *Telework & Disability: A Literature Review
    and Implications for Workers Compensation Clients and Disabled
    Veterans*, Telework/ Telecommuting Pilot Research Project, 2005.

[^28]: The Telework Coalition, Inc., Telework Benchmarking Study, Best
    Practices for Large-Scale Implementation in Public and Private
    Sector Organizations, Washington, DC, 2006,
    <http://www.telcoa.org/id312.htm>.

[^29]: The Rehabilitation Research & Training Center, Virginia
    Commonwealth University, *Telework & Disability: A Literature Review
    and Implications for Workers Compensation Clients and Disabled
    Veterans*, Telework/ Telecommuting Pilot Research Project, 2005.

[^30]: Hammel, Joy & Finlayson, Marcia, *Findings from Telework State
    Focus Groups*, prepared by the University of Illinois at Chicago for
    the National Assistive Technology Technical Assistance Partnership,
    2006.

[^31]: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, *Ageing
    and Employment Policies: United States*, Paris Cedex, France, 2005.

[^32]: Karoly, Lynn A. & Zissimopoulos, *Transition to Self-Employment
    at Older Ages*, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California, 2002.

[^33]: Ibid.

[^34]:

[^35]: Iams, Howard & Huynh, Minh, "Is Self-employment a Getter
    Alternative for Older Workers?" Paper presented to the 4^th^
    International Research Conference on Social Security, Antwerp, 2003.

[^36]: U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau, "Quick Stats 2005,"
    Washington, DC.

[^37]: Dollinger, Marc, Shaw, Karyll & Hartenian, Linda. *The Older
    Entrepreneur: An Exploratory Study*

[^38]: Shurry, Jan, & Lomax, Steve (IFF Research Ltd) & Vyakarnam,
    Shailendra, *Household Survey of Entrepreneur 2001*, prepared for
    Small Business Service, Department of Trade and Industry, United
    Kingdom, 2002.

[^39]: Fetterman, Mindy, "Phased-in Retirement Not Universal," Managing
    Your Money, 21^st^ Century Retirement, *USA Today*, June8, 2005.

[^40]: AARP, *Labor Market Forces of Older Workers,*

[^41]: Overton, Stephanie, "The Changing Face of Retirement," *News to
    Use*, Radford University, Radford, VA, 2003.

[^42]: Cahill, Kevin, Giandrea, Michael D., Quinn, Joseph F., *Are
    Traditional Retirements a Thing of the Past? New Evidence on
    Retirement Patterns and Bridge Jobs*," Office of Productivity and
    Technology, Working Paper 384, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of
    Labor Statistics, September 2005.

[^43]: Ibid.

[^44]: Merrill Lynch, *The New Retirement Survey*, Press Release,
    February 22, 2005.

[^45]: U.S. Office of Personnel Management, *Career Patterns---A 21^st^
    Century Approach to Attracting Talent: A Guide for Agencies*, 2006.