Y4 ,

PT. I

I O C i9

INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPOR TUNITY

FOR THE ELDERLY

GOVERNMENT

Storage

H E A R I N G S

BEFORE TH E

SUBCOM MITTEE ON

EM PLO YM ENT AN D RET IRE ME NT INCO MES

jf OF T H E

SPEC IAL COMMITTEE ON AGING 

UNITED STATES SENA TE

EIG ITTY-E IGH TH CONGRESS

FIR ST SESSION

Par t 1.—Washington , D.C.

DECEMBER 19, 1963

Printe d for the use of the Special Committee on Aging

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTIN G OF FIC E 

29-589 WASHINGTON : 1964

For sale by the S uperinte ndent of Documents, U.S. Governm ent Pri nting Office 

Washington, D.C ., 20402 - Price 15 cents
i

SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING

GE OR GE A. SM AT HE RS , Flo rida , OZioirmoM

PA T MCNAMARA, Michiga n

CL AIR EN GL E, Cal ifor ni a

HA RRI SO N A. WIL LI AMS, J r., New Je rs ey 

MAUR IN E B. NE UB ER GE R, Orego n 

WA YN E MO RS E, Oregon

AL AN BIB LE, Nev ad a

FR ANK CH UR CH , Id ah o

JE N N IN G S RA ND OL PH , W es t Virgi ni a 

ED MU ND S. MUSK IE , Ma ine 

ED WAR D V. LON G, M isso uri 

FR ANK E. MO SS, U ta h 

ED WAR D M. KE NN ED Y, M as sa ch us et ts 

RA LP H W. YARBOROU GH , Tex as

EVER ET T MC KINL EY DIR KS EN , Il lin oi s 

BA RR Y GO LD WA TE R, Ariz on a 

FR ANK CA RLSO N, K an sa s 

WINST ON L. PR OU TY , Vermon t 

KENNET H B. KE AT IN G, New Yo rk 

HI RA M L. FONG , H aw ai i 

E. L. ME CH EM , Ne w Mexico

J. William Norm an, Jr. , Sta ff D irec tor

J oh n Guy Mil le r, M in or ity Sta ff D irec to r

Subc om m it te e on E m pl o y m en t an d R etir em en t I nc om es

JE NNIN GS RA ND OL PH , W es t V irgi ni a, Ch airm an

FR ANK CH UR CH , Id ah o WIN ST ON L. PR OU TY , Vermon t

ALAN BIB LE, Nev ad a HI RA M L. FONG, H aw ai i

ED WAR D V. LONG, M isso ur i E. L. ME CH EM , New Mex ico

FR AN K E. MOSS, U ta h

J. Wil liam Norman, Jr ., S ta ff D irec to r

NOT^= -T hree hea ri ng s on in cr ea si ng em ploy men t opport unitie s we re he ld an d th ey ar e 

iden tif ied as fo ll o w s:

P a rt 1— W as hi ng to n, D.C., December 19, 196 3.

P a rt 2— Lo s Arig eles, Ca lif., Jan u ary 10, 196 4.

P a rt 3— Sa n Fw fnc isco, Ca lif .. Ja nu ary 13, 196 4.

* II
C O N T E N T S

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WIT NESSES

Hon. Daniel P. Moynihan, Assistant Secretary of Labor; accompanied by

Mrs. Aryness Joy Wickens, Office of the Secretary, and Anthony Fantaci, Page 

Chief of the Special Workers Branch, U.S. Employment Service______ 2

Hon. Margaret Schweinhaut, chairman, Maryland Sta te Commission on

Aging-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14

Dr. Donald P. Kent, Director, Office of Aging, Department of Health,

Educatio n, and Welfare_________________________________________ 20

STA TEMENTS

Fitch, William C., executive director of National Retired Teachers Association and American Association of Retired Persons__________________ 33

Kent, Dr. Donald P., Director, Office of Aging, HEW_________________ 20, 25

Moynihan, Hon. Daniel P., Assistant Secretary of Labor; accompanied by

Mrs. Aryness Joy Wickens, Office of the Secretary, and Anthony Fantaci,

Chief, Special Workers Branch, U.S. Employment Service___________ 2, 7

Randolph, Hon. Jennings, a Senator from the Sta te of West Virginia____ 1

Schweinhaut, Hon. Margaret, chairman, Maryland Sta te Commission on

Aging-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14

ADDIT ION AL INF ORMA TIO N

“ Employment After Retire ment,” reprint from April-M ay 1963 Modern

Matu rity_____________________________________________________ 35

Statistic s w ith reference to older workers____________________________ 18

i l l

INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE 

ELDERLY

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1963 

U.S. Senate,

Subcommittee on E mployment and

Retirement I ncomes of th e E lderly

of the Special Committee on Aging,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to call, in room 1318, 

New Senate Office Building.

Present: Senators Randolph (chairman of the subcommittee) and 

Moss.

Present also: J. William Norman, staff director; Fra nk C. Fran tz, professional staff member; Gerald P. Nye, minority professional staff 

member; Patric ia Slinkard, chief clerk, and Marion Keevers, minority 

chief clerk.

Senator Moss (presiding). The subcommittee will come to order.

Senator Randolph, the chairman of the subcommittee, is presently 

engaged in a very important matter at the White House. I expect 

him to join us later.

Senator Randolph has prepared an opening statement. I will read 

tha t in his behalf so tha t it will be in the record in the beginning. 

His statement reads as follows:

This is the first of a series of hearings on increasing employment opportunitie s for the elderly, with pa rticular emphasis on part-tim e employment. Of 

all possible solutions to the financial problems of senior citizens, the one which 

they themselves prefer is gainful employment, enabling them to continue as 

independent, self-sufficient, productive members of society. This is also desirable from the stan dpo int of younger people who, in many instances, must 

help t heir seniors bear financial burdens.

To the extent th at older persons are able to meet their own pecu niary needs 

through the ir own resources, there is a lessening of the tax burdens and problems of support borne by younger people.

Our subcomm ittee will give close atte ntio n to part-tim e employment for the 

elderly. Many people of advanced age, while unable to und erta ke strenuous 

full-time employment, are fully capable of working pa rt time, and w ant to do so. 

Thus they remain in the “main stream of life,” and retain a sense of dignity and 

usefulness. Working at least pa rt time is beneficial to both their mental and 

physical well-being. They do possess sk ills; they are patient and tho roug h; 

they do have th e right at titudes and good work habits.

And, part-tim e employment helps to solve their money problems. For many 

years, recip ients of old age, survivors, and disability insuranc e who are 72 and 

older have been perm itted to earn unlimited amounts withou t loss of OASDI 

benefits. Under recent amendments, such annuita nts who are under 72 may 

earn up to $1,200 annually with out any reduction in benefits, and up to $500 

more a y ear with a loss of only $1 for each $2 earned.

In addition, an amendment of which I was a cosponsor, enacted in the 87th 

Congress provides th at the first $10 of an old-age a ssistanc e recipien t’s earnings 

and half the next $40 of his earnings may be disregarded in fixing his grant.

1
2 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Thus, increasing part-time employment for America’s senior citizens is a practical means of contributing to national economic stability without substantial 

cost to the public.

The subcommittee will listen with interest to our witnesses as they testify 

as to what is being done by Federal and State Governments and by private 

organizations in providing part-time jobs for senior citizens. We will hope to 

indicate action to be taken to make available additional part-time employment 

opportunities for these deserving Americans.

Our first witn ess will be Mr. Mo ynihan , the As sis tan t Secre tary of 

La bo r, representin g the De pa rtm en t of Labor. Will you come fo rwa rd, please, Mr. Mo ynihan? We are g lad to have you, sir; and the 

peo ple you have w ith you. W ill you introd uce them , please?

STATEMENT OF HON. DANIEL P. MOYNIHAN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF LABOR; ACCOMPANIED BY MRS. ARYNESS JOY WICKENS,

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY; AND ANTHONY FANTACI, CHIE F

OF THE SPECIAL WORKERS BRANCH, U.S. EMPLOYMENT SERVICE

Mr. Moynih an. I t is very kind of you. I have the ple asu re to be 

accompan ied by one of o ur mo re d isting uis hed y ounger worke rs a t the 

Dep artm en t of Labor, Mrs. Ary nes s Wick ens; and Mr. An tho ny 

Fa nt ac i who is the Chief of the Special Work ers Br anch of t he U .S. 

Em plo ym ent Service.

Se na tor Moss. We ar e pleased to h ave your associates yo u have with 

you.

Mr. Moynih an. I wou ld like to rea d a prep ared stat em ent which is 

br ief bu t which is sufficiently sta tistic al to w ar ra nt my read ing it.

Se nator Moss. We shall be pleased to h ear it.

Mr. Moynih an. We a re honored to be here before you and we w elcome w ith some conside rable en thu siasm the su bcommittee ’s inter est in 

th e sub ject whi ch has been of inc rea sing concern to the Dep ar tme nt i n th e pas t yea r.

You ask us to app ea r be fore you, sir, a t a tim e w hen I th in k it can be 

said we know som eth ing abo ut a sub ject whi ch pe rhap s as recently 

as a y ea r ago we shou ld have h ad to res pond mostly with questions of 

ou r own rath er tha n a nsw er qu estions of yours.

In the pa st y ear I hav e ha d the p lea sure of ser vin g as alt erna te to 

th e S ecret ary of La bor on the P resid en t’s Counc il on A ging an d on th e 

Counc il’s Comm ittee on Em plo ym ent whi ch has been acti ve th ro ug hou t the yea r. We have con ducted an extensiv e stu dy of ways to impro ve employment oppo rtu nitie s fo r old er person s in resp onse to a 

specific directive we received to th at effect fro m Pr esiden t Kennedy 

in his message on the eld erly citiz ens of ou r Na tio n which he sent to 

the Congress in Fe br ua ry of this yea r. He directed the Council on 

Ag ing “in con sultation wi th pr ivate organiz ations and citiz ens to 

un de rta ke a sea rch ing reap praisal of the problems of employme nt 

op po rtu nitie s for the aged and to re po rt to me by Oct ober 31 on wh at 

action is d esirable and necessa ry.”

We have made th at re po rt and it was wi th the Pr esiden t at the 

tim e of his dea th. I t has now been subm itte d to Presiden t Johnson 

an d we will be hearing muc h more of it in the very ne ar futur e.

Th e p oint is th at th e g row ing im portance of pa rt- tim e emp loym ent, 

pa rticul arly fo r persons over 60, rec urred again and again in our dis ­

cussions. I t is clear th at th ere is a ne ed to deve lop a varie ty of pa rt-
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES 3

time jobs at all levels of skill. For many older persons it is evident 

tha t full-time employment in the traditional sense is not the answer 

to their needs for income and for the satisfaction tha t comes with 

work.

The ideal, of course, is to provide each individual with a genuine 

choice of continuing to work pa rt time or full time, or not working at 

all. It is exactly those terms which Senator Jennings Randolph described in his opening statement this morning.

At this point I would like to emphasize the great value which we 

place upon the Senior Citizens Community Plan ning and Service 

Act of 1963, Senate bill 1357, which President Kennedy urged in his 

message on the elderly citizens of the Nation and which Senator 

Smathers introduced into the Congress.

Pa rt E of this bill would provide up to $10 million a year for 5 

years to State and local governments or bodies and approved nonprofit institutions to encourage them to develop special employment 

projects for older persons in local community activities.

This bill is prim arily designed for persons over 60 and in our mind 

primarily concerned with part-time employment. It represents a 

form of subsidized part-time employment in what would be community services that can be considered to be a kind tha t can be supported by tax funds. There are a great many of these.

We would estimate tha t some 20,000 persons who are now unemployed could be given work under a program of this kind with $10 

million from the Federal Government.

As to the kinds of work they can do we increasingly learn there is 

a demand for help in school lunch programs, for playground attendants, helping children in day-care centers, conducting training in employment in various crafts. The jobs which we would hope to be 

providing directly would also, we hope, stimulate a general effort by 

communities to think, “Well, what can you do in this field ? What resources do you have that you are not using that you can benefit from ?”

I think I should explain from the point of view of the Bureau 

of Labor Statistics w hat we mean by part-time employment and also 

to call to your attention what needs to be done. This is very much a 

relative term and it is not to be thought of perhaps as h ard and as 

specific as we have sometimes done.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses part-time employment as anyone working a workweek of less than 35 hours. Anyone working 

from 1 to 35 hours a week on a regular basis is regarded as in parttime employment. I am sure a U.S. Senator would regard anybody 

on a 35-hour week as working part time.

Senator Moss. I concur.

Mr. Moynihan. If you think back, a century ago the average workday, the standard workday, was 11 hours and the standard workweek 

was 6 days: not everyone got it. The standard workweek was 66 

hours, almost double what we now regard as a standard workweek 

of 35 to 40 hours for statistical purposes. So it is something less than 

what other people are doing but not in any necessary sense a partial 

activity.

Twenty hours of work can be very full work for certain types of 

activities. Certain types of work only require 20 hours. It is a question of making it available to people who need it.
4 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Th ere is also the question of pa rt- tim e emplo yment on a seasonal 

bas is whi ch is an inc rea sin g pa tter n of some of ou r emp loym ent. In 

gen era l we find pa rt- tim e employment as defined here to be very m uch 

on the increase. Between 1949 and 1962, full-tim e employment rose 

20 perce nt in Am eric a, pa rt- tim e employment rose 62 percen t, three 

tim es as gr ea t a rise. Th is is relate d to the exp ansion of economic 

activ itie s whe re pa rt- tim e emp loyment is common, in trad e and 

services, in retailing , in activities where peo ple do have seasonal 

fluc tuation s, an d whe re peop le can come and go on a pa rt- tim e basis.

A t the pre sen t time, we hav e wo rking outside of ag ric ulture 11 

millio n people in the wyork force employed on a pa rt- tim e basis. Now 

the po int about thi s is th at tw o-thi rds o f these pers ons prefer i t. They 

re po rt to ou r interv iew ers th at is wha t they wan t to do ; the y are 

working par t tim e because they wish to. An othe r th ir d of them do 

it because th at is as much work as the y are ge tting at the time. The 

facto ry wo rki ng part tim e is no t unco mmon in some pa rts of the 

cou ntry. Pa rt-ti me worke rs constitu te close to 30 perce nt of sales 

and service employees, abo ut 15 perce nt of pro fessional and clerical 

workers. Ab out 65 perce nt of pr ivate household workers are par t 

time .

Obviously, these 11 mil lion people include a whole ran ge of w orkers 

fro m very young to very old bu t it is interesti ng to us, im po rta nt to 

us, how large a prop ortio n of old er workers are in fact pa rt- tim e 

workers.

In October of th is year, over on e-t hir d of th e old er men and onehal f of the old er women, by which we would say 65 years and older, 

on e-t hird o f the men a nd ha lf the women w ho were em ploy ed in nonag ric ultu ral occupation s, were wo rki ng ha lf tim e—38 perce nt of the 

men, 50 perce nt of the women. Ab out 85 perce nt of both men and 

women in th at g roup were worki ng part time because they preferred 

to. Th is is wh at the y wante d to do, corre spondin g exa ctly to the 

circ umstan ces whi ch Se na tor Ra nd olph desc ribed in his statem ent.

We find th is tren d to be increasing. In the 1950’s, 76 pe rce nt of the 

old er men who worke d at all held f ull -time jobs but 11 yea rs late r on ly 

64 perc ent did.

Th is is a very clear d eclining tren d. Most of t he red uction occurre d 

among men who wor ked all ye ar aro un d at f ull -time jobs. Th e pr opo rti on work ing fu ll-tim e f or only p art of the y ea r rema ined the same. 

In othe r words, th at p at te rn o f seasonal employment is obviously one 

which too k ho ld first a nd we are now seeing a pat te rn of persons w ork ­

in g few er hours of the week; th at grou p is ris ing althou gh the full 

week is declinin g.

Th ere is evidence, no question about it, as you k now, Senator, th at 

person s over 45 have inc rea sin g difficulty in fin din g em ployme nt. The 

grou p over 45, as a w hole, has a f ai rly good e mployment r eco rd bu t if 

you lose yo ur job at 45, to find a n ew one is very difficult. He re pe rsons wo rking sh ort tim e hav e con siderable tro ub le; and no t a very 

attrac tiv e s itu ation. Workers over 45 accounte d fo r o ver two-fifth s of 

all th e p erso ns in no nfarm jobs in vo luntarily wo rking sh orter ho urs in 

October.

Th ere were 900,000 peo ple over 45 w orkin g s ho rt time. F or the m it 

is sh ort tim e, it is no t part time. Th ey wou ld pr ef er to work a full 

week bu t the y cannot get it. Th is is a situatio n to which I t hi nk th is 

country must address itself i f i t is no t go ing to find a very c onsiderable
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES 5

number of people in the full possession of the ir powers, a t the h eight 

of th eir responsibilities, family men, in situations which are a ppa lling 

to anybody who gets into such a position.

In October, about 70,000 or 16 percent of the unemployed persons 

over 55 wanted part-tim e employment. The other 84 percent, however, wanted full-time employment. People on the whole are looking 

for full-time work un til they reach what is generally thought to be the 

retirement age, and increasingly 65 years is turnin g out to be the 

retirement year in America.

The past week has placed dramatic emphasis on the problem. The 

measure of the problem of part-tim e work for older persons is n ot the 

number of unemployed persons looking for pa rt-ti me work. It is the 

millions of p art-time workers and the need to develop still more such 

jobs to meet the risin g demand as rapidly as possible.

It is imp orta nt to find new types of part-tim e employment with 

additional employers both public and pr ivate in industry and in households wherever they may be found and to organize to get w orkers and 

jobs together.

Now the biggest single national agency that responds to Government policy in this area is the U.S. Employment Service, which is a 

Federal-State enterprise which now has 1,900 offices located thro ughout the Nation and which is turning its attention very much to this 

problem.

In this present active file of jobseekers with the Employment Serv ­

ice there are 125,000 persons over 65 years of age seeking work. Most 

of these are—three-quarters of them—are residents of our indu strial 

States, our largest industrial States. The prim ary emphasis of the 

Employment Service has been and should be on finding full-time jobs, 

but I think it is pre tty clear to us th at we a re going to have to begin 

thin king of part-tim e employment as a legitimate and sensible and 

worthwhile activity.

I think, in tru th, that a great many of our institutions still have 

certain attitudes, say, inherited du ring the depression days of a generation ago, t ha t part-time employment is what you get when you can’t 

get more. We, I thin k, have been neglectful, too, in not getting 

into it. In fact, part-tim e employment is wha t a g reat many people 

want and a great many employers are finding th at it suits the ir needs, 

too. Some of our employment agencies have done a good job at 

this.

In New York City, a special unit has been developed in the Em ­

ployment Service han dlin g applications from commercial agencies 

and such who want part-tim e help for rush periods, for seasonal 

jobs, whatever that may be. They have been very successful. They 

have been successful in two types of p art-time work. One is for pe rsons who only want to work, say, 20 hours a week. Another and 

perhaps increasing source of employment for older workers as well 

as younger workers is for jobs that are only pa rt time but which 

can be put together to make up a full week’s work.

We have done th at, as you know, Senator, successfully in the Fa rm 

Labor Service. They have been able to work out pre tty successfully 

the job of getting a full yea r’s work for men who might work in 

the course of that time for 10 or 15 farm ers but do it in succession 

<tnd it turns out to be decent employment.

29—589—64 —pt. 1----- 2
6 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

The California State Employm ent Service has done a great deal 

of work in th is field. They have been particu larly successful, I think, 

in homemaker services, which is a special type of activity. It has 

seen its fullest development in a country such as Sweden where 

mature women are made available in households where someone is 

ill, someone is disabled, someone is old and beyond caring for themselves. They provide the services of a woman who has raised her 

own family and has learned a gre at deal about how to run a household. It can be a very useful, effective form of employment for those 

people, and a very valuable social service or just a service.

The employment service in Cal ifor nia has done a very interesting 

thing, we think, in a group called senior home repairers, which is 

to take men from the skilled building trades and craf ts, who own 

the ir tools, who know the ir trad e, who have retired, but who want 

to work a little bit. They go around to houses doing the small repairs. A leaky faucet does n ot look like much of a problem but if 

you don’t know how a faucet works you can’t fix it. These fellows 

can come around and do that work. It turns out to be much needed 

and very much welcomed by the men involved.

In Dallas, Tex., the employment service has produced much the 

same type of prog ram and again has found it very successful. These 

activities are not just limited to th e U.S. Em ploym ent Service. Many 

industries which have some sense of relationship to a cra ft, a rather 

discrete body of employees, have found themselves able to do this.

The print ing industry is the best example which has come to our 

attention. The printing industry is one which is characterized by 

very highly skilled men, it has been since it began five centuries ago. 

Men get better as they get older in prin ting . Nevertheless, they retire. In 1961, the printing industry began a nationwide placement 

service as it were, of older prin ters, retired printers, who would be 

willing to do a little bit of work, and made this service available to 

printers, to employers at rush periods, for special jobs which needed 

people with special talents and who wrere not available full time in 

the ir locality.

They have pu t these two thin gs together with great success and in 

the actual experience of the industry they have more calls for persons 

such as this tha n they have printe rs on the ir rosters. If there were 

quite a few more printers interested in doing part-tim e work they 

could all be employed on this basis.

I think wha t we are seeing here among other things, is the development of a very sensitive labor market, a sensitive economy, where 

people try ing to economize find use for the very specialized services, 

for specialized purposes, limited periods of time, which is characte ristic of a lot of organizations growin g up in a city like New York, and 

employment services are respon ding in the same way.

We think there is a great opp ortu nity here to provide employment 

that is needed on a part-time basis. It will take some imagination. 

It is not the line we have been working in. There is no reason in the 

world why we should not move in this direction, however. This is 

very much in our minds a t the moment.

Thank you, sir.
INCREASING EMPLO YM ENT OPPORTUNITIE S 7

(Sta tement of Mr. Moynihan follows:)

Sta te m en t of Danie l P at ri ck Mo y n ih a n , Assi st a nt Secreta ry of L abor

I am pleased to have this opportunity to represent the Department of Labor 

today in discussing with you the need for improving the part-time employment 

opportunities of senior citizens.

It has been my privilege to serve as alte rnate to the Secretary of Labor on 

the Pres iden t’s Council on Aging and the Council’s Committee on Employment. 

This committee has conducted an extensive study of ways to improve employment opportunities for older persons, in response to a directive from President 

Kennedy in his message on the elderly citizens of our Nation in February 1963. 

He directed the Council on Aging: “in consultation with private organizations 

and citizens, to undertake a searching reappraisal of problems of employment 

opportunities for the aged and to rep ort to me by October 31, 1963, on wha t action 

is desirable and necessary.”

The repo rt of the President’s Council on Aging has been submitted to the 

President, and is now under consideration. While I am not at lib erty to discuss 

the details of this report un til its release, I can say tha t the subject of part-tim e 

employment opportunities was given considerable attention. Interested agencies 

and individuals were consulted extensively and arrangements were made for a 

number of special studies on the employment status of older persons. Your 

committee’s inquiry is, therefore, especially timely and helpful.

The growing importance of part-time employment, particu larl y for persons 

over 60, recurred again and again in our discussions. It is clear that there is 

need to develop a variety of part-tim e jobs at all levels of skill. For many older 

persons, it is evident tha t full-time employment in the tradition al sense is not 

the answ’er to their needs for income and for the satisfaction that comes with 

work. The ideal, of course, is to provide each individual with a genuine choice 

of continuing to work, part- or full-time, or to enjoy well-earned leisure.

There are various ways in which the problem of part-time employment can 

be approached. It is certain that community effort will be required to bring 

together people who need to work with the people who have work to be done.

SENIOR CITIZENS COMMUN ITY PLA NNING AND SERVICES ACT

At this point, I should like to emphasize the great potential value to older 

persons of the Senior Citizens Community Planning and Services Act of 1963, 

S. 1357, which President Kennedy urged in his message on the elderly citizens 

of the Nation. Pa rt E of this bill would provide up to $10 million a year for 

5 years to State and local governments and approved nonprofit institutions to 

encourage them to develop special employment projects for older persons in local 

community activities.

This bill is primarily designed for men and women 60 years of age and over. 

It is estim ated that 20,000 such men and women who are unemployed could be 

given work each year under such a program. They would be engaged in community activities such as assisting with school lunch programs, working as playground a ttendants, helping care for children in day-care centers, and conducting 

training for employment in various crafts. While this proposal is not limited 

to the development of part-time employment opportunities, it would undoubtedly 

result in part-time jobs with pay fo r older persons now unemployed. In addition 

to the jobs which would be provided directly by the bill’s projects private and 

public organizations and agencies should also be stimulated to provide several 

times that number of jobs, including p art time, with their own financing.

DEFINITIO N AND EXTENT OF PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT

Before proceeding further, I think we should define “part-time employment” 

and look at its extent among all age groups. As a rule, wTe use the definition 

adopted by the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistic s in the 

monthly report on the labor force, that is, a workweek of less than 35 hours. 

We have not used the term to refer to seasonal employment. Persons 14 years 

old and over who worked 1 to 34 hours in the survey week are counted as employed pa rt time. In addition to stan dard occupational information, questions 

are asked concerning their reasons for working less than 35 hours. This is the 

source of most of our information on part-time employment.
8 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Each yea r more men and women are employed in part-time jobs. While fulltime employment rose by about 20 percent between 1949 and 1962, part-time 

employment rose by about 62 percent. Expansion in the trade and service 

industries, which have traditionally employed large numbers of part-time workers, accounts for much of this increase. Part-tim e employment is contin uing to 

rise at a significant rate , and for the future, projections of the labor force indicate th at it may have an even gre ate r impact on manpower than in the past.

About 11 million persons are now employed on a part-time basis outside of 

agriculture, two-thirds of them because they prefer to work pa rt time. Parttime workers constitu te close to 30 percent of sales and of service employees, and 

about 15 percent of professional and clerical workers. About 65 percent of 

private household workers work pa rt time. These 11 million workers include 

people of all ages, old and young. Young people, both boys and girls, work part 

time while they are in school. Many women work pa rt time, especially middleaged and older women.

It is thus imp ortant to consider whether the needs of differe nt age groups for 

part-time employment are different and whether efforts to improve part-time 

employment opportunities requ ire different techniques to serve different age 

groups.

If we consider persons over 65, part-tim e work for those who are employed is 

quite general. In October 1963, over one-third of the older men and one-half of 

the women who were employed in non agricultural occupations were working 

part time. The high percentage of persons 65 and over working part time as 

compared with younger workers is shown on the following t ab le :

Nonagricultural employees employed part time, October 1963

[Pe rce nt]

Age Male Fema le

20 to 24___________________________________________ 15 20 25 to 34______________________________________ . 6 26 35 to 44____________________________________ 6 29 45 to 64__________________________ ____________ . 8 25 65 an d ov er________________________________________ 38 50

Approximately 85 percent of both men and women 65 yea rs of age and over 

who were working pa rt time were doing so out of preference, rather tha n for 

economic reasons.

This preference for part-tim e work has grown quite noticeably in recent years. 

At the beginning of the 1950’s about 76 percent of older men who worked held 

full-time jobs, but in 1961 only about 64 percent were full-time workers. Most 

of this reduction occurred among the men who worked all yea r at full-time job s; 

the proportion working full time for only p art of the year, i.e., less than 50 weeks, 

did not change significantly.

There is, of course, abu nda nt evidence that not only men and women over 65, 

but also those over 45, once out of work, have more difficulty finding new employment tha n younger people. This is not merely a ma tte r of age per se; it is 

often a ma tte r of education. These middle-aged workers deserve the utmost 

consideration. They are heads of families, often at the peak of the ir family 

responsibilities. We should, therefore, consider a broad age range when we 

discuss special employment programs for so-called older workers. For this 

reason, the President’s Council on Aging, in its report, took into consideration 

work ers 45 and older, altho ugh it is recognized th at the problems of those under 

retirem ent age a re often quite different from those of persons who have retired.

OLDER WORKERS ON PART TIME FOR INVO LUNTARY REASONS

When workers in the ir forties and fifties work pa rt time rather than full time, 

this is not likely to be from choice, but from necessity.

Workers 45 years and over accounted for over two-fifths of all the persons in 

nonfarm jobs involuntarily working sho rter hours in October 1963—a total of 

over 900,(XX) persons. They were working less tha n 35 hours per week because 

of slack work, material shortages, or inability to find full-time jobs. The inability to find full-time jobs was the principa l reason why nea rly half of the
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES 9

older men and about two-thirds of the older women were on pa rt time. The 

prevalence of involunta ry short-time work increase s with age. This is especially 

true of o lder men.

1 thin k we would all agree tha t for people now working pa rt time who want 

to work full time, somewhat different progra ms are involved tha n for those who 

are looking for part-t ime work. This is not the place for an extended discussion 

of ways to promote growth of the economy so tha t more jobs will be available 

althou gh we must recognize th at this is basic. As I und erst and the concern of 

this subcommittee, it is w ith the need fo r and ways to find par t-tim e employment 

for older persons who are not seeking full-time work. Although genera l economic 

and manpower measures will be helpful in promoting not only full-ti me but also 

part-tim e employment, some different approaches will be requ ired to meet the 

needs for part-tim e employment fully, par ticu larly for o ur senior citizens.

This October, about 70,000, or 16 percent of the unemployed person s over 55 

who were looking for work, wante d part- time employment; the other 84 percent 

want ed full-time employment. One-eighth of the men and abou t one-fifth of 

the women wanted part-time work. For persons over 65, the propo rtions are 

much higher. Furth ermore, many more older persons not now at work might welcome part-tim e work if it were available. The figures I have cited represent 

persons who were reported as unemployed and actively seeking work in the 

week of the October 1963 survey. Others may have stopped trying.

The measu re of the problem of part-tim e work for older people is not the 

number of unemployed workers looking for part-t ime work in any one month. 

It is the millions of part-time job workers and the need to develop still more 

such jobs to meet the rising demand as rapid ly as possible. It is imp orta nt to 

find new types of part-t ime employment, with additional employers, both public 

and private, in indu stry and in households—wherever they may be found, and 

to organize to get workers and jobs together.

PA RT -T IM E EM PL OY MEN T AC TIVITIES OF TH E FEDERA L-STAT E EM PL OY MEN T SERV ICE

I should now like, Mr. Chairman, to tur n to the work of the Fede ral-S tate 

Employment Service and to re port on w hat is being done with respec t to part-t ime 

employment.

As you know, this nationwid e service now h as some 1,900 local offices, serving 

thousa nds of employers and refe rrin g worke rs of all ages to jobs in a tremendous range of occupations. The active file of jobseekers in these offices this 

month alone includes some 125,000 applicants 65 years of age or over. Almost 

thre e-fourths of them are in eight of the highly indu stria lized larg e State s: 

Pennsylvania, New York, California, Massach usetts, New Jerse y, Illinois, Ohio, 

and Michigan.

Although the prim ary emphasis of the Employment Service is on full-time 

jobs, it is filling an increasing number of orders from employers for part-time 

workers, in the course of its regu lar operations. This reflects the risin g trend of 

part- time employment as, for example, in retail trade and in such service occupations as r es tau ran t and hotel work.

For older worke rs—defined broadly as over 45—the Employment Service has 

had an active progra m for a considerable time. There are older worke rs specialists in all State s who are responsible for development and promotion of 

the efforts of local offices on behalf of older w orkers ; counseling, job development, 

and placement. These efforts are subs tant ial, but I think we would all agree 

tha t more needs to be done.

While there is no widespread organized program in the Federal-Sta te Employment Service f or serving part-time workers, the Service h as car ried out a number 

of progra ms which have implicatio ns for the improvement and expansion of 

services to such workers.

With in the framewor k of the occupational-ind ustria l pat ter n of organ ization 

of employment offices in some major metro politan areas, a number of specialized 

offices deal 'with part- time workers because of the nat ure of the indu strie s or 

occupations on which they concentrate. For example, over the years a special 

uni t has been main taine d in the office of the employment service in New York 

City which handl es commercial jobs, to solicit jobs and ref er applicants int erested in part- time work. There are similar offices in other cities. New York 

City also has a networ k of household employment offices which fill many parttime jobs.
10 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

The California State Employment Service has successfully carried out a 

number of programs which have produced new or expanded part-time job opportunities for older workers. A program for homemakers and home managers 

was developed to utilize the abilities and experience of older women from the 

business, teaching, and social work fields in connection with the problems of 

the elderly housebound. The women are given specialized training, and assume 

cer tain responsibilities on a part-time basis. They are not domestics. A program to employ senior home rep airers was tailored to supplement social 

secu rity income. A pool of men from the skilled trades, over 65 years of age, 

who have the ir own tools, do simple repairs around the home. They do not 

wish full-time work. San Francisco visitors are provided with walking tour 

guides to points of interest. The program is sponsored by the California Historic al Society.

These California projects, while they affect rela tively few persons, are indicative of various approaches th at can be used to develop and expand parttime job opportunities for middle-aged and older workers. To many of the 

persons so employed, the projects have meant the maintenance of self-respect 

and financial independence.

In Dallas, Tex., in 1962, the Employment Service conducted a p art-time worker 

demonstration project to determine the potential for part-tim e employment in 

the are a and to develop procedures to provide maximum services to part-time 

workers and to employers. The project demonstrated th at employers prefer 

mature applicants in filling certain types of part-tim e jobs and th at there is a 

sub stantial and growing demand for women inte rested in part-time employment. More tha n three-qua rters of the openings received were open to workers 

45 yea rs of age and over. Occupations covered a wide range from package 

wrappers and charwom en to bookkeepers, policewomen, and teachers in the 

following types of industries and esta blishments: retail trade, finance, motels 

and res tau ran ts, thea ters, hosp itals and hea lth services, schools, government 

agencies, business services, and personal services.

Thus, the U.S. Employment Service is in fact engaged in part-time employment activities, but on a limited scale with in present staff limitations. Experience gained from these special placem ent activities for part-time workers can 

be utiliz ed elsewhere and should res ult in some increase in this type of service. 

However, full realization of the potential would require sub stantial additional 

staff.

More comprehensive and effective services should include not only dire ct services to applicants and employers but also programs to stim ulate unions, employer organizations, and ind ustrial and professional groups to provide employment services to the ir retiring members, utilizing facilities of the public employment service where they are appropriate.

Many agencies and organizatio ns can and should be enlisted in an organized 

effort to develop part-time jobs for older workers. Joint action by older workers 

themselves, as well as by industry and labor groups, can be used effectively to 

promote their employment, both pa rt time and full time. An outstand ing example is the program of the pr inting industry. Realizing the loss to the industry 

thro ugh t the retirem ent of skilled workers, the prin ting indus try in 1961 created 

a free, nationwide, placem ent agency for retired workers with specialized experience. An employer in need of a worker with a particular specialized skill to 

meet a production commitm ent can contact the agency and get the names of 

qualified men and women in his locality who may be retired but who would 

like to get back to work. The plan is working well, with many more jobs available tha n retired personnel to fill them. The printing industry placement agency 

has also launched a successful consulting service using retired graphic arts 

specialists as consultants.

In the professions, as well, there are numerous examples of job-finding services 

for retired members.

In view of the growing number of retirees, as well as the difficulty which 

elderly persons are finding in obtaining suitable employment, a wide-scale 

effort needs to be made to identify and develop part-tim e job opportunities in 

priv ate industry, nonprofit organizations, and public agencies at all levels. 

Fortunately, some of the fas tes t growing indu stries, such as the services industries, are in need of part-tim e employees. The outlook for part-tim e job opportunities, therefore, app ears to be relatively good, particularly if a concerted 

effort is made to develop an effective approach to the problem.
INCREASING EMPLO YMENT OPPORTUNITIES 11

Senator Moss. Thank you, Mr. Moynihan. Tha t was a very interesting statement. There is a lot of good information here. Obviously a lot of work has been done on the problem.

I have been wondering about the attitude of employers. Is there 

any disposition to break jobs down, as it were, to permit part-time 

employment ra ther than full-time employment, or is th at considered 

disadvantageous by the employer? Is it better to have a full-time 

employee on all the time, or can two or more part-time workers do it 

as well ?

Mr. Moynihan. I don’t know if I can speak for employers but I 

can say something has appeared, a system of employment has appeared which w’ould indicate this is the case, Senator. Increasingly, 

businessmen have organized groups which provide part-time employees. You have heard of Manpower, Inc., perhaps. These are 

people who, if you are an employer and need an extra 2 days of typing, 

will provide you the typist for 2 days. They sell you a service like 

any other service but in this case it is an employee for th at short time.

This is turn ing out to be an efficient mode of organization and 

these organizations, if I understand it correctly, are growing and 

perhaps will continue to do so. It is a way of doing things more 

efficiently, business seeks th at and it is a good thin g to do.

Senator Moss. The company hires the employee when there is something specific to do and there will be a period when they do not need 

that employee.

Mr. Moynihan. Exactly. It is turning out to be a good way to run 

a business. In retail trade this becomes very much the pattern because retail trade varies so from season to season and from hour to 

hour in the day.

Senator Moss. And days in the week, I suppose.

Mr. Moynihan. Exactly.

Senator Moss. In reading through your prepared statement I notice 

tha t on the bottom of page 11 you say tha t the “full realization of the 

potential” of the U.S. Employment Service for placing workers in 

part-time employment “would require substantial additional staff.”

Has there been any estimate made of the additional appropriations 

required to exploit this potential ?

Mr. Moynihan. Sir, as I recall, and we have talked about this, we 

have estimated there are about 55 major metropolitan areas in the 

country. If we were to set up a part-time employment specialist in 

these areas, in each one to work up a program or to set up a service of 

this kind, it would take 250 to 275 jobs in an average u nit of 4 persons per metropolitan area, which would cost us about $2 million a 

year.

If you went to the smaller metropolitan areas as well, I think it 

would cost about $3 million a year to do this.

Senator Moss. Has any request been made yet for budgetary funds 

to cover this ?

Mr. Moynihan. No, sir; but we have not yet concluded our consideration.

Senator Moss. You are still in the discussion stage ?

Mr. Moynihan. Yes.

Senator Moss. There has been suggested a question I would like to 

put to you, Mr. Moynihan. Your statement indicates t hat part-time 

employment thus far has been concentrated in certain occupations such
12 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

as sales an d services and in the pro fessions . Ha ve any pro posals been 

made fo r ma kin g more pa rt- tim e employment o pportun ities in ma nu ­

factur in g an d oth er occu pations, such as skilled ma nual wor k?

Mr. Moynih an. Sir, I couldn’t say wheth er any such pro posals ha ve 

been made bu t I th in k I can s peak fo r our own De pa rtm ent of L ab or 

and I thi nk I can reflect w hat I belie ve to be th e views of th e America n 

lab or movement in t his area.

He re you ru n into the problem of une mploy ment in the areas such 

as m anufacturin g, where every y ear th e nu mb er of f ull-tim e employees 

is declining, h as been dr op ping and drop ping a nd d ropping . As Mr. 

George Meany sa id to Presiden t J ohnson whe n he met w ith him abo ut 

2 weeks ago at the A FL -C IO Ex ecutive Council mee ting, there are 

few er pers ons wo rki ng fu ll tim e in m an uf ac turin g tod ay in Am eric a 

th an there were 10 y ears ago, few er per son s wo rki ng in pr ivate employment th an th ere were 10 years ago.

We h ave 4 m illion persons ou t of w ork at this po int of whom m ost 

wou ld wish to work fu ll time. Whil e there are pers ons seeking fu lltim e wor k in are as such as man uf ac turin g, I th in k it would be our 

view, we ou gh t to tr y to pro vid e full-tim e jobs fo r them .

Se na tor Moss. T hat is wh at com plic ates t his pro blem so much, is i t 

not, the fact t hat we have a ha rd core of une mploy ment th at we have 

no t been able to wipe out in th e l as t several years ?

Mr. Moynih an. Ex actly . You must no t th in k of pa rt- tim e emp loyment as tak in g jobs away f rom men with full-tim e employment because 

it is a problem of skills involved. People who are bei ng employe d 

part tim e, who wish to be, are pr ov iding s kills t hat a re in sh ort su pply 

in ma ny cases. Th ey are no t taki ng jobs away fro m oth er men, at 

lea st in the are as the y are concentra tin g in ; the y are sim ply doing 

wha t is more in d ema nd.

Unf or tuna tely, you have a gr ea t many people wi th skills th at are 

no t in dema nd. Se nator Ran do lph is a t t he W hite Ho use th is m oment 

fo r the sig ning of a bill passed by the Con gress ju st th is last week, 

which we th in k will be one of the m ajor pieces of leg islation we will 

ever get to b rin g this s upply an d d emand in line.

Se na tor Moss. Th ere is a pro posal made in a numb er of qu arters 

th at the workweek ge nerally ought to be redu ced , pe rhap s to a 30-hou r 

week or som ething of th at sort. W ha t im pact would this have on 

pa rt- tim e employment ?

Mr. Moynih an. Th e firs t im pact is th at t he Bu reau of La bo r Sta ­

tistics would have to revise its definition or everybody would be on 

pa rt- tim e emp loymen t. I don’t know th at t his wou ld have th at k ind 

of effect.

Th e object of those pro posals is to increase the n um ber of pers ons 

wo rking fu ll tim e bu t fo r sh orter workw eek ; now in are as where 

there is a surp lus of lab or or short age o f jobs, h owever y ou wa nt to define it. Th e avow ed honor able obje ctive of those pro posals is to give 

jobs to people wh o are now o ut of work fu ll tim e an d seeking to work 

fu ll time.

Ag ain I don’t th in k you would find it would mak e any difference 

among these r etire d pr in te rs who are in sh ort supply and could prob ­

ably work full tim e this momen t if they chose to. Th ey are w ork ing 

part tim e because i t mak es sense an d also i t mak es economic sense fo r 

th e i nd ustry to ha ve people who are availabl e to fill i n at pe ak periods 

with specia l skills.
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES 13

Senator Moss. The impact would be felt in areas where there is a 

surplus of labor any way; that is your point?

Mr. Moyniiian. I would hesitate to say where the impact would be 

felt. It could take two forms. It would increase the cost of manufacturing beyond competitive points, it could produce unemployment.

As you know, sir, it is our view that the answer to employment is 

to create more jobs, not to cut the workweek of people who are now 

employed.

Senator Moss. On page 4, Mr. Moynihan, you give us some figures 

on the percentage of sales and service employees and professional and 

clerical employees and private household workers who work part 

time.

I wonder if you could give us figures also on the skilled trades and 

operatives, similar to what you have given here in these areas?

Mr. Moynihan. Senator, we do have them. I think you will find it 

is a very low figure excepting for retired persons who choose that 

option. About 10 percent is Mrs. Wickens’ expert memory. I will 

submit that for the record in exact terms.

Senator Moss. Will you submit th at for the record and we will have 

it here for our consideration ?

Mr. Moynihan. Yes, sir.

(The information furnished follows:)

The percent of those at work who worked pa rt time in October 1963 wa s: 

Craftsmen, 9.5 percen t; operatives, 15 percent.

Senator Moss. Do you have a figure of the number of people in 

skilled trades tha t are seeking part-time employment?

Mrs. Wickens. Yes, sir; I believe we can supply tha t for you. 

It will not be up to date because this is a small group on a current 

basis. But I can take an annual average and give you a rough notation from some earlier figures, sir.

Senator Moss. Fine. If you will supply tha t for the record, we will 

appreciate it.

Mrs. Wickens. We will be very glad to.

(The information furnished follows:)

Among the unemployed who were looking for part-time work during the first 

9 months of 1963, there were about 25,000 persons who las t worked full time as 

craftsmen, and about 75,000 who las t worked full time as operatives. These 

part-time jobseekers accounted for 5 percent of all unemployed craftsmen and 

over 7 percent of all unemployed operatives.

Senator Moss. I think I have no further questions. I must commend you for a very excellent statement. We appreciate your being 

here. If there are any other comments or anything you wish to p ut in 

the record we will be glad to have them.

Mr. Moynihan. Sir, we would simply wish to encourage you in this 

enterprise. We think it is more than of passing important

Senator Moss. The subcommittee does intend to 

field hearings in various parts of the country and g^ 

mation as we can on this subject.

Mr. Moynihan. Thank you, sir.

Senator Moss. Thank you very much.

Our next witness will be the Honorable Margai 

who is chairman of the Maryland State Commission

We are very pleased to have you with us today, 

tion tha t the bells might ring and we might inte rrup t yduTrt some 

point, we shall be pleased to have you go ahead with your testimony. 

29 -5 89 — 64------ 3
14 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

STATEMENT OF HON. MARGARET SCHWEINHAUT, CHAIRMAN, 

MARYLAND STATE COMMISSION ON AGING

Mrs. Schwe inh aut. Tha nk y ou very much. I a m certa inl y ha pp y 

to be here . I sha ll try, throug h my very quickly devised testimo ny, 

to give you some of the aspects of this problem, as we see it, who are 

de ali ng directl y in the comm unities.

I am c hairm an o f the M ary lan d Commission on Ag ing . Th is commis sion res ulted fro m legislation passed by the General Assembly of 

M arylan d in 1959 and is composed of 17 mem bers dra wn from the p ub ­

lic an d head s of the various de pa rtm en ts of the Sta te.

M arylan d has 23 counties. Und er the auspices of the State commission there a re 18 cou nty commissions on a ging and 1 in the c ity of 

Ba ltimo re. We hav e a budget of $25,000 th is year, thr ee full-t ime 

employe es and seve ral pa rt- tim e employees. We are no t an op erating 

agency bu t have manag ed to pu t a numb er of p rojects into opera tion 

un de r our ausp ices bu t financed by vo lunta ry gro ups an d by the 

countie s themselves.

Whil e this commission’s wo rk was begun ind ependently of th e pa ssage of t he W hit e House Conferen ce on A ging bill, the ou trig ht gra nt 

by the Congress of $15,000 mad e available to us made it possible 

quickl y to alert the citiz ens in all par ts of the St ate to the problem s 

whi ch elderly people face an d to int ere st them in taki ng some re ­

spo nsibility.

Th us we were able to be gin a projec t for the trai ni ng of occu pational 

therap y ass istant s—in cid entally, a very fine pa rt- tim e wor k—financed 

jointly by cou nty health d epart me nts , and TB , a nd H ea rt A ssociat ion 

an d the Fe de ral Voc atio nal Re ha bilitation Age ncy. Th is has proven 

so succe ssful th at the St ate now has tak en it on as a statew ide pr ogra m.

We were able wi th financial backing o f t he St ate medical society to 

ho ld wh at we called an “A pp ointme nt W ith Hea lth M onth” whereby 

we stressed throug h a ll communica tion media th e im portance of phy sical exa minat ion s fo r old er people. Those who could affo rd it w ent to 

th ei r private doctors. Those who could not, go t fre e exa min atio ns. 

Over 700 people appli ed fo r this help.

As a res ult, the Na tio nal In stitu tes of Hea lth is now fina ncing as 

a 3-yea r p rojec t a clinic directed s pecifically to wa rd the needs of olde r 

people.

Most recently, wo rki ng in coo peratio n wi th the St ate employme nt 

sec urity office, we hav e begun the trai ni ng un de r the Ma npo wer Re ­

trai ni ng Act of practic al nurses. Th is prog ram involves unemployed 

peop le, both men and women. Th ere are a gr ea t many more p rojec ts 

which this small commission has und ert aken with consid erab le success.

We find th at the communities are rea dy for these projects, t his is, inso far as th eir int ere st is concerned, bu t un fortu na tely, few local govern ing bodies a re rea dy to ad vance fund s to b ring them into actu ality.

I t has been a m atter of gr ea t distress to me th at the ou tstan din g 

work made possible by the small out righ t g ra nt of C ongress in pr ep ar atio n fo r t he W hit e House Confe renc e on Aging and which res ulted in 

these commissions b ein g formed in a ll of th e States, sho uld have been 

allowed to a lar ge exten t to fad e away and to die of finan cial m aln utri tio n.

I believe t hat m any State s now hav e no commissions. If it is tru e, 

as has been pro jected , th at our lifespan in the foreseeable fu ture is
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES 15

to be 100 to 125 years, then the loss of impetus generated during 1959 

and 1960 and 1961 will prove to have been very costly indeed.

I might interpose, Senator, tha t sometimes I believe if our older 

people would break some windows or knock down street ligh ts or generally become delinquents, more attention would be paid to their needs. 

Many of the measures th at have been passed to curb delinquency in. 

youth come about because youth make themselves and their needs so 

obvious tha t we have to do something about it. The crime ra te among 

the young in addition to, of course, our feeling for young people brings 

action. But i t is the very quietness of the older people that adds to the 

difficulty of getting programs into operation which older people need 

so critically.

I am not advocating tha t seniors go about breaking street lamplights. There seems to be only one way older people can make th eir 

presence felt, and tha t is through the ballot. While this path has not 

been followed so far in our country (except in spotted places), I 

think the day is fast approaching when it is going to be used unless 

our Federal Congress takes considerable leadership as, of course, the 

evidence of this hearing here today indicates will be done.

I hope that tha t leadership will be expedited.

Turning now to the specific problem with which this hearing is concerned, the first official act of the Maryland Commission on Aging was 

to bring to the attention of Governor Tawes the inequities existing 

in the State employment service with respect to hiring policies. Upon 

our recommendation the Governor issued an executive order banning 

calendar age as a consideration for State employment with the single 

exception of the State police.

We followed this up by contacting all major employers in Maryland 

and had a fair response. We have had free donations of billboard 

space in this effort and much free TV, radio, and newspaper publicity. 

We have been able to bring into operation two voluntary groups, one 

in Baltimore City and one in Montgomery County, which are placing 

people 60 and over in employment.

They don’t say, “We won’t take a person as 50,” but their main emphasis is on the 60 and older group. Both of these voluntary groups 

are doing an outstanding job. Both will probably have to close up 

before too long because they simply do not have the money to continue.

From the experience of these two groups I believe we touch the 

essence of the part of the bill we are discussing today. These people 

are usually 60 and over. They are not interested in pension plans. 

They are not interested in vacations, and they are not interested in 

other fringe benefits. Definitely they do not want charity. They are 

determined to stay off the welfare rolls. Incidentally many of them 

would not feel such pressure to work were it not for the fear of illness 

and the high cost of tha t illness which would b ring in its wake dependency. Because of the great diversity among these people help 

must be given to them on a community basis.

It has become critical tha t the benefits to be found in this bill be 

quickly felt in the community. Not only job placement but the deep 

need for counseling services to older people who, especially if they 

are recently retired, find it very difficult indeed to adjust to a job with 

probably little prestige, with smaller pay, and quite a bit below the 

work status the man or woman had recently enjoyed.
16 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Attitudes must be changed and it is true tha t no matter how mature 

the calendar says we are, few of us are truly mature in our attitudes toward ourselves—present company excepted, Senator.

This becomes more pronounced as we get older. Therefore, the 

need for help in changing these attitudes, for help in accepting a 

changed role, is very important. These kinds of difficulties cannot 

be handled in large, busy, impersonal offices. They must be handled 

within the community by people who know the community and who 

are sensitive to the human problem they are attempting to help solve.

In 1960, the Labor Department recognized this when in an official 

bulletin it s aid :

The Government can improve general und erstanding across the country but 

It is in the communities where people live that the problem exists. That is where 

a man or woman is going to get a job or not get a job. Th at is where new and 

more realistic a ttitud es must be created.

When public attitudes are changed then and then only will the lot 

of the older worker improve. Our State commission is a changer 

of public attitudes in this field but the change is heartbreakingly slow 

because, for lack of money, we cannot employ the tools which would 

quicken the pace.

In Baltimore City our commission was able to inspire a group of 

recently retired business executives to establish an employment service for elderly men and women. There is no charge to either the applicant or to the employer. A church has donated its basement for 

an office. One paid employee and many volunteers operate the office 

3 days a week. It set a budget for itself of $12,000 a year. It has 

been able to raise only a little over $3,000 and the paid employee is 

rapidly becoming a volunteer.

From April to October of this present year, 529 persons applied for 

help in finding work. One hundred and sixty-four job opportunities 

were developed. Eighty-nine persons were actually put to work. 

The work opportunities available and not filled were mostly for salesmen on a commission basis and for live-in housekeepers and companions, neither of which have too much appeal for our older people. 

To do an adequate job this group needs $12,000 a year. In fact tha t 

is a very modest sum but where can it get the other $9,000 ?

Under the terms of this bill I believe this project would be entirely eligible for help and it is certainly a worthy one. This is one of 

the two projects I mentioned which might very well go out of existence because of lack of financial help, and a relatively small amount 

is needed.

The project in Montgomery County grew out of a local conference 

held under the auspices of the State commission in preparation for 

the AVliito House Conference on Aging. Here the Federated Women’s Clubs of the county have appropriated over a space of 3 years 

$1,000 a year to organize an employment service within the county. A very large group of dedicated women in the county opened 

an office in a recreation building. This office also operates 3 days a 

week. Last year it received an extra $400 from interested citizens. 

In the first 6 months of its operation there were 240 applicants.

Senator Moss. I am sorry I am going to have to interrupt you. 

I have to go vote in the Senate. I will be gone about 10 or 15 minutes, 

I think. If you would not mind waiting I will be back.

Mrs. Schweinhaut. Not at all. I will be glad to start all over 

again.
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUN ITIES 17

Senator Moss. No, it has been very good. You are making an excellent record here. I am most interested in the experience you are 

having in your State. So I want to hear the rest of it. I may have 

a few questions I would like to ask you but I do have to leave and answer the roll.

(Whereupon, a brief recess was taken.)

Senator R andolph (presiding). Will you please resume your statement, Mrs. Schweinhaut?

Mrs. Schweinhaut. I have given the majority of my testimony 

with respect to the actual kinds of projects which are going on within 

communities to find employment for older people and the fact tha t 

these projects, while they are under the auspices of the State commission on aging, are being carried on by voluntary groups who are raising their own money. They are in pretty desperate straits at this 

point and it is questionable how long they will continue because of 

the lack of funds. It would be my hope that the Congress, which has 

proven many times that it can act very quickly, would very quickly 

act on this measure and make it possible to save these kinds of community groups which are doing such outstandingly successful work.

In the State of Maryland, if we had the money to do it, there is no 

doubt that we could get voluntary groups in all 23 of our counties to 

seek out employment fo r older people, both pa rt time and full time, 

and help adjust the person to the job and do it very satisfactorily.

This bill would, in my understanding, fu rnish the money to do just 

that.

I also think that the National Service Corps would be beneficial for 

those older people who do not need to supplement their incomes but 

who desperately need something worthwhile to do.

Those of us working in the communities where older people live 

know the need for decent housing; we know the need for adequate 

medical coverage; we know the need for nursing homes and people to 

stalf them; we know the need for recreation and educational opportunities; w’e know the need for employment of our healthy, competent older people.

We have also come to know that it is very difficult to get action. 

It is extremely difficult to get the splendid Federal programs down 

into the communities where people live. It has been 3 years since the 

White House Conference on Aging. A great deal of fine work has 

been done. I cannot too highly praise Dr. Kent and his staff and 

Commissioner Winston and our own Burton Aycock, our regional 

HE W representative, for the work they have done. But a gre at deal 

was hoped for from the White House Conference on Aging and a

f

reat cleal was believed in which has not come about in the 3 years 

ollowing that conference.

Too many citizen groups have become discouraged and have given 

up. Through this bill we might be able to get on with the job of 

bringing into fruition tha t which we know is needed. Through the 

grants delineated in this bill we could test the wisdom of the projects 

and find out whether they actually would stand the ultimate test of 

time.

I think it is important for the Congress to understand tha t we in 

the States are not asking—and I hope this bill is not merely interested 

in—alleviation of the bad situations tha t exist today. What we are 

talking about is the opportunity now to test the answers for the days 

to come when the problem will be far more critical.
18 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Therefore, I would like to see the whole gr ant portions of this bill 

go forward speedily. If only the employment area can get through, 

then let us get on with that. I see this bill as a beginning on the problems which in 20 years may be terribly critical and very costly unless 

we know from experience just what it is t hat will work well when 

more and more people are living to be 100 years of age and over.

So, I will say with profound feeling tha t I would hope tha t this 

committee and the Congress of the United States would hurry on 

with the passage of this bill.

Thank you, Senator.

Senator Randolph. Mrs. Schweinhaut, you are referrin g to S. 1357; 

is that correct ?

Mrs. Schweinhaut. Yes, Senator.

Senator Randolph. There are similar measures pending and of 

course that legislation is very much in the thinking of the members 

of this subcommittee and the committee. We are attempting to determine this morning the need for employment or part-time employment for our elderly folk.

I wonder if you could help us by giving us any information which 

you could provide the subcommittee from the standpoint of the Maryland picture of the need of these older folk for gainful work.

Mrs. Schweinhaut. Senator, there can be no question of the need. 

I gave an illustration earlier in my testimony, pointing out that from 

last April until October of this year a project which we were able to 

inspire in the city of Baltimore resulted in 530 people, 60 and over, 

seeking employment from this brandnew organization.

In our county, where we have the second voluntary organization, 

we have literally hundreds and hundreds—they have been operating 

for over 2 years—they have had over a thousand people come to them 

to seek employment. There is hardly a day—as a matter of fact I 

had to have an extra phone put into my home—there is hard ly a day 

tha t people don’t call me asking what they should do about employment.

The question of the need is thoroughly established. I can give it 

to you certainly in statistics with respect to our State. Secretary 

Moynihan gave it to you nationwide.

Senator Randolph. Will you provide the subcommittee with supplemental material?

Mrs. Schweinhaut. We can give you estimates based on these two 

actual experiences. In addition to that, the State employment service has an area of interest in this, too. They would have fine statistics on those people who go to the governmental agency for just 

this kind of help.

So, I will be happy to give to you figures illustrating need to the 

extent that we can.

(The information furnished follows:)

Sta tistics with reference to older workers {65 and over) counseling service of

the Sta te Employment Service, Baltimore, Md.

Number of applications in active file as of November 1963____________ 1, 506

This represents 3.4 perc ent of the total activ e file for Sta te employment service.

Placements—age 65 and over in 1963_______________________________ 3, 054

This represents 3.4 percent of the total placements for State employm ent service.
INCREASING EMPLO YMENT OPPORTUNITIES 19

Statistics with reference to Over-60 Employment Counseling Service, Baltimore,

Md.

By the end of Jan uary 1964, this service h ad been in operation for 10 months. 

During this period, it has been operated by volunteer help on T uesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Its gre ate st handica p has been 

lack of fund s to pay for the services on which it is relying, and to meet other 

out-of-pocket expenses.

During the 10 months of opera tio n:

It registered 597 applicants for employment: 330 male, 267 female.

It placed in employment 115 applican ts: 76 male, 39 female. Full time, 48; 

pa rt time, 47; temporary, 20. (In addition, 48 persons were given 1-day assignments in a 1-day paid study project.)

Applications with draw n, 78; applicants still registered, 404; possible job opportunities brought to the attention of the service, 308.

Sources of these job opportu nities : Radio, 42; TV, 6; newspapers, 64; Sta te 

agencies, 19; contributors to the service, 4; persons placed for employment, 8; 

Information and refer ral service of the Health & Welfare Council of the Ba ltimore Area, 13; board members of the service, 52; staff members of the service, 

100.

To illu strate the types of positions filled, it migh t be noted th at during Ja nu ­

ary 1964 the following 14 positions were filled: Carpenter (2) , accountant, 

bookeeper, babysitting (2), housekeeper, parking lot attend ant, guard, hotel 

desk clerk, estim ator, commercial paint jobs, treasu rer-bookkeeper, stock clerk, 

watchman-elevator operator.

As of the end of Janu ary 1964 the classification of the positions available for 

filling, if qualified applicants registe r with the service, were as follows: 

Positions available

Classifications Full time Pa rt time Tem pora ry

Automotive, rewindin g generators, starters, etc____ ______ 1

Babysitting___ -_______________'_______ '__________ . ___ 3 2

Bank cu stodian_____ _________________________________ 1

Bank currency d epa rtm ent wrapper ____________________ 1

Bank teller.. _____________ "_________________________ 1 1

Bank mortgage clerk______________________ ___________ 1

Bank new accounts c lerk. _____________________________ 1

Buye r of wastepa per__________________________________ 1

Car pe nt er .. ________________________ ________________ 1

Child care _________________________________________ 5

Clerk_______________________________________________ 3 1 1

Com panion. ___________________________ _ __________ 4 3

Engineer—Electrical background ________ ___________ 1

Engineer—Mechanical background ___________________ 1

Grower (greenhouse)__________________________________ 1

Handyman _______________________________________ 1

Housekeeper_________________________________________ 6 1

Ho stess.. __________ _______________________________ 1

Manager of shopping center area______________ __________ 1

Me atcu tter ______ _____________ ________________ 1

M ec ha ni ca l super vis or o f s w im m in g p oo ls 1

N u rse .. .. ___________________________________________ 1

Salesmen an d salesladies________ _____ _________________ 2 7

Secretary _________________________________________ 1

Stenographer-bookkeeper__________ _______ ___________ 1

Service station a tte nd an t__________________ _____ ______ 1

Sewing . __________ ___ _____________________________ 1 1

Shop forem an.. ______________________________________ 1

Switchboard operator. _______________________________ 1

Supervisor—Activities in church property ________________ 1

Taxi driver ________________________________________ 1

Telephone work a t home_______________________________ 1

T y p ew ri te r m ech an ic . 1

W atc hm an 2

Tot al ............... . ........... ................ ...................................... 36 32 1
20 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Sta tistics w ith reference to Over-60 Employment Counseling Service, Montgomery

County, Chevy Chase, Md.

By the end of December 1963 this service had been in operation for 2 years 

and 9 months.

Total applications for this period_________________________________ 335

Placem ents:

1961 ________________________________________________________ 29

1962 ________________________________________________________ 33

1963 ________________________________________________________ 57

To tal_____________________________________________________ 119

This service is operated on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, from 10 a.m. 

to 1 p.m. The service has one part-tim e paid employee. All other help is 

volunteer.

Senator Randolph. Senator Moss and I, who were privileged to hear 

your statement and comments, would want the record to clearly indicate what the Maryland State Commission on Aging, which we believe is a very active organization, is doing, and also what the activity 

of other groups, State and local, or individual citizen participation 

means from the standpoint of helping these older Americans to receive gainful employment. We believe that your statement today is 

an excellent summary of what has been done.

Senator Moss, is there any further comment you would have, sir?

Senator Moss. I certainly want to commend Mrs. Schweinhaut 

for this very fine statement. I was impressed with the effort that has 

been made and your indication tha t the handicap of lack of financial 

support is limiting the effort, which would indicate one place where 

we certainly ought to give some attention, in two regards. One, I 

was impressed with your discussion of the counseling services which 

are so important to older people who have to make an adjustment in 

their mental attitudes as they cross the line and do less work but still 

want to work and still want to have the independence that comes from 

employment, the feeling of being needed; and also your discussion of the training that is going on in Baltimore in some areas where 

there is a shortage of supply, like practical nurses.

I remember that particularly and my experience, which is rather 

limited in this area, would indicate there is a definite shortage in the 

area of practical nurses. So, I have found it most enlightening and 

very helpful and I appreciate your statement.

Mrs. Schweinhaut. Thank you, Senator.

Senator Randolph. Thank you very much.

Dr. Kent, please.

STATEMENT OF DR. DONALD P. KENT, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF AGING, 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE

Dr. Kent. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, it is a 

pleasure to be here representing the Departm ent of Health, Education, 

and Welware and to applaud the Senate committee for moving into 

this very important area. It is one that we feel is of vital importance 

to a great many of our older citizens and we are delighted tha t you 

are pushing ahead in this area.
INCREASING EMPLO YMENT OPPO RTUNITIE S 21

Mr. Chairman, the Office of Aging, of which I am Director, has 

the responsibility within the Department of Health, Education, and 

Welfare, for coordinating and stimulating programs for older people. 

Pa rt of our efforts are directed toward the stimulation of opportunities 

for employment.

I think we have to understand certain basic trends which have been 

occurring with regard to employable persons. Since the turn of the 

century, the labor force participation of men 65 years of age and over 

has been steadily declining. For example, at the tu rn of this century 

in about 1900, two-thirds of the men who were 65 or over were employed. Today this is down to less than one-third.

So, we see the steady decline of employable persons.

Senator Randolph. Tha t applies also to persons 45 years of age 

and over; is tha t correct? As well as, let us say, 65 and older?

Dr. Kent. That is correct, Mr. Chairman. But it is particularly 

noticeable with the 65 years and older group.

Senator Randolph. But increasingly as a person advances in his or 

her age they find difficulty of new employment; is that not right? If 

they are in jobs they can hold them, at least in a degree. But if they 

are looking for employment they find a very difficult picture. Is tha t 

not right?

Dr. Kent. Tha t is correct. In fact, it is one of the anomalies, tha t 

every time we go to an employer and we say to him, “Tell us who are 

your most valuable employees,” he will almost invariably name his 

older employees, the people who have been with the company for many 

years. But if for some reason or other, because of automation or 

because of change in techniques, these people are thrown out of work, 

the older person finds the greater difficulty in becoming employed.

In fact, I could put in the record some data we have indicating the 

length of time that people are out of work by age. As you say, there 

is a steady increase in this period of unemployment.

Now with this downward trend though, we have one interesting 

thing and that is in recent years there has been an upswing in the increase in part-time employment, the topic with which th is committee 

is concerned.

This has been a very significant increase. In my formal statement 

(tha t we have in the record) we document this and we indicate tha t 

today one out of six employed persons is working part of the time. 

One out of four women who are employed work part time. This 

part-time employment is particularly of importance to the people who 

are 65 and over.

In the years after 64 the proportion of part-time employment steadily increases. For example, one out of four men between 65 and 69 are 

employed part time; and when you go between ages 70 and 74 it is 

one out of three people who are employed pa rt time. When you get 

beyond this age it becomes one out of two men who are employed on a 

part-time basis.

Senator Randolph. Dr. Kent, what type of work are these people 

doing in part-time employment?

Dr. Kent. Chiefly they are in the service areas; we do find that they 

can be employed as homemakers, as waitresses, as sales personnel. But 

there have been some very unusual and interesting community experiments. One that comes to my mind is in a midwestern community, a
22 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

suburban community, where they discovered that it is very difficult to 

get carpenters, painters, and other mechanics. Some very enterprising person got the idea that there were probably a lot of retired 

people who would do these tasks. They did two simple things: One, 

they posted an ad asking how many older people who would be interested in working p art time : “Will you tell us what skills you have, 

how many hours a week would you be willing to work? what rates 

would you charge?”

Then by mimeographing a list of these people and distributing 

them throughout the community they were able to get many people 

to hire them.

Another similar example is in Cleveland where they now have a 

system known as “party aids” or “party helpers.” This was a situation 

which had this as a background. Today nearly all of us like to give 

parties. Very few of us have full-time domestic servants; we do 

need help when we are giving a party.

The thought was that there are lots of older women who would like 

to help out and who would be qualified. So they brought together a 

group of older women asking, “Would you like to be party helpers?” 

They gave them some training in terms of making hors d’oeuvres, 

making martinis, and so forth. Then they p ut a little ad in the paper, 

“Pa rty helpers available,” they gave the rate, a dollar and a quarter, 

or a dollar and a half an hour.

They used homebound, older women to serve as the contact points. 

This has proved a very lively service. In fact, some of the older 

people who are going out and doing this are saying, tha t they enjoy 

this thoroughly because now they go to a party once a week.

It is, of course, augmenting their income at the same time.

This would lead me to something tha t I think we would have to 

consider, and tha t is the meaning of work, the meaning of work to 

older people, the meaning of work to all of us. Quite a part from the 

fact tha t work gives us money, work does a lot of other things for 

us and I think it is important for us to recognize some of these things.

Senator Randolph. At that point, I had an employer tell me recently tha t some of the older workers in the plant were more valuable than 

the younger workers for a very definite reason. Their skills were not 

as finely drawn, their coordination was not as good, but he said their 

attitude was good.

So, he could lessen the aptitude a little because he was getting more 

in the attitude. I th ink those words “attitude” and “aptitude” here are 

very important as we consider this. The stability of the older worker. 

This is very real, is it not ?

Dr. Kent. This is very real. Many studies have been made, for 

example, at Cornell University, and studies which have been made by 

a distinguished economist at Duke University, Dr. Juan ita Kreps, regularly showed what you have just pointed out.

In fact this attitude, this willingness to work, and also their experience and “know-how” frequently more than compensates for any decline which may have occurred in terms of physical stamina.

But I think work does many things for us. For example, it occupies 

time and gives a patte rn to daily living. I think this is very important. 

It gives us status and independence and a sense of worth. It offers 

social contacts. Think about how many friends we make through our 

occupations.
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPO RTUNITIE S 23

It provides, of course, intellectual and physical stimulation which 

is, of course, im portant to both our psychological and physical wellbeing.

It satisfies a need for a meaningful and useful accomplishment. In 

this regard, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, some of the 

research that is being done at the universities is very germane.

Dr. Wilma Donohue, at the University of Michigan, has been carrying on some research on the importance of work activities. This is 

being financed with a special gran t from the Vocational Rehabilitation 

Administration.

Among the things she has done is go to a hospital population and 

provided these people with meaningful work. She comments on the 

results of her experiment here. She says this :

The results of this demonstration indicate tha t approximately three-quarters 

of the older State-county hospital patients achieved a higher level of selfcare and independence and that approximately half can be returned to the community.

Another very interesting experiment was in a home for the aged in 

New York where they brought work opportunities to the people in 

the home. They discovered tha t patients and residents of the home 

which before had stayed in their room, came out in the workshop to 

work even though the remuneration really was very small, merely 

enough for a little spending money, something of this nature. It was 

the psychological impact of it that was important.

I don’t mean here to completely disregard the fact of work as an 

important adjunct in terms of income supplementation. Let me say 

tha t earnings are one of the two most important sources of income for 

older people. Approximately one-third of the income of older persons derives from insurance programs such as OAS DI and railroad 

retirement.

An additional one-third of the income of older people today comes 

from employment. In fact, we have a vested interest as a society 

in keeping people employed not only from the viewpoint of their 

own personal well-being but from the national viewpoint. If we 

had to replace what they are now getting from earnings by some 

kind of public contribution this would be an enormous sum.

Let me say tha t all of the studies have indicated how im portant it 

is to keep people working. It is one of the anomalies of our time 

tha t people today reach retirement age of 65 in better health than 

they ever were before and yet are being retired.

Senator Randolph. I had a man tell me yesterday who is 73, he was 

a very important industrialist in the State of Michigan and held 

responsible positions, he has a son who is living in Washington, D.C. 

So he and his wife determined tha t they would come here, not to 

interfere with his son’s life as he said, but be a little nearer and 

live in a little milder climate than uppe r Michigan has in the winter. 

Without attempting to say th at I have the responsibility of securing 

employment, he just came to talk to me about the fact tha t he was 

alert—I saw this—he had a fine record of leadership in business as an 

executive and he indicated that, “Here I have several years of really 

productive life and how do I go about it? Whom do I see? Where do 

I make contact?”
24 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Th is is im po rta nt, is it not, th at we find ways, channe ls th roug h 

whi ch thes e people can secu re pa rt- tim e employment? Do you have 

any help fo r th is ma n? Where would he go now, a man 73 years 

of age?

Dr . Ken t. Th ere are a va rie ty of sourc es to whi ch he could tu rn , 

Mr. Ch air ma n. Th e U.S . Em plo ym ent Serv ice, as Secre tar y Mo yniha n point ed out, in many areas do hav e wh at are known as “ol der 

wo rker spe cia lists” whose t ask it is to tr y to find places for the o lde r 

worke r.

Th ey also hav e old er wo rke r counselors whose tas k it is to tr y to 

adv ise the old er pers on, help him to tak e inv entor y of wh at his s kills 

are and where they ca n best be used.

In ma ny are as there are also St ate commissions on aging which 

have prog ram s to whi ch he could tu rn fo r help. In the Di str ict 

of Colum bia the y do not pre sentl y have a Distri ct comm ission on 

ag ing to whi ch the person could tu rn , bu t if he were liv ing in 

M arylan d, fo r example, the comm ission of which Mrs. Schw ein haut 

ha s ju st spok en very eloq uently, is a source to which he could tu rn 

fo r h elp. Hea lth and welfare councils fre quently are also sources.

I th ink there is no question about it th at the case th at you have 

describ ed, Mr. Ch air ma n, is all too typic al. In fac t, our survey s 

show this. For example, one made by the Pu blic Hea lth Service indic ate d th at of the men who are 65 to 74, ove r a qu arter ha d no 

physica l dis ability whatsoe ver. Th en you get an oth er lar ge pe rcen tage, pro bably 40 to 50 percen t who may hav e one chro nic con ditio n b ut it rea lly is not a severely l im iti ng one.

So, you see, a grea t majority of people are able to wo rk and our 

ind ica tio ns are fro m people who re tire th at very few of them wa nt 

to r etire vo lunta rily.

I think your gen tleman point s up som eth ing th at we are aware of 

and th at we mu st keep constan tly in mind. Tha t is th at we cannot 

deal with people as if th ey were a sta tistic . We h ave to ind ividualize 

this. Th ere a re as m any different desires among o lde r peop le as there 

are am ong you nger people.

As a consequence we cann ot hop e to develop one sing le p rogram that 

is g oin g to meet the needs of all old er people bu t we h ave to deve lop a 

multip lic ity of progra ms to meet the v ariety o f needs that exist.

In all of t his we have to constan tly g ive indiv iduals the free dom of 

choice, wh eth er it be in housing so th at he can choose to live alone or 

in an a pa rtm en t house specifically designed f or older pe rso ns; wh eth er 

it is e mploymen t, he should have the choice, we feel, to retir e with an 

ade quate income af te r yea rs of service if he desires bu t at the same 

tim e if he wa nts full- or pa rt- tim e emplo yment this choice should be 

availab le.

Mentio n has alr eady been made of the Senio r Citizens Comm unity 

Pla nn in g Service Ac t of 1963. I t was introd uced in the Senat e by 

Se na tor Sm ath ers and in the House of Re pre sen tative s by Congressman Mills. I would again und erscore the fact th at this leg islation 

wou ld pro vid e a g ra nt p rogram of $50 m illion over a 5-year perio d to 

stimu late th e em ployment of older perso ns.

Th is same m easure wo uld also pro vid e othe r grants. I t w ould pr ovide gr an ts fo r St ate commissions such as the one Mrs. Sc hw ein haut 

heads, and would enable these comm issions, these St ate bodies, to move 

in and do a comm unity job in m any areas, inc ludin g em ployme nt.
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES 25

There are also embodied in th is bill gran ts for demonstration pro jects. I would hope that some of these demonstration projects would be 

in the area of part-tim e employment as an adjustment to retirement.

Let me say that within the Department of Health, Education, and 

Welfare we have been very conscious of this. Many of our program s 

have been geared to encouraging this.

The Congress, in 1961, liberalized the so-called “earnings test” in 

order to encourage the part-ti me employment of older people. The 

Congress, again in 1962 , amended the Social Security Act and made 

certain changes in the public welfare par ts of it which are of grea t 

importance. Most impor tant was a shift in attitude from merely 

meeting the need to relieving dependency.

Pa rt of this is th at today a person on old-age assistance, i f the State 

elects to pass necessary legislation, can keep up to $30 a month from 

earnings without a reduction in his old-age assistance payment.

This, we feel, is an important step in encouraging work, encouraging independence, and at the same time raising the s tandard of living.

Mr. Chairman, let me conclude by again saying that the Departm ent 

of Health, Education, and Welfare is vitally interested in this. Our 

Vocational Rehabilitation Administration has many program s designed to encourage employment. The Welfare Admin istration has 

been pushing in this area. The Social Security Administration is 

concerned with it. The entire Department stands ready to cooperate 

with you in your efforts here to expand opportu nities for employment 

of older people.

(State ment of Dr. Ken t foll ows:)

Statement of Dr. Donald Kent, Director, Office of Aging, Welfare

Administra tion, on Part-Time E mployment for Older Workers

Hr. Chair man and members of the committee, the resp onsibilities of the Office 

of Aging include the stim ulat ion and coordination of prog rams for the aging in 

the Depa rtment. Employment affects and is affected by several prog rams of the 

Dep artm ent of Hea lth, Educ ation, and Welfare. Hea lth affects the ability to 

contin ue working; the level and conditions for receip t of social security benefits 

affects the desire and the need for contin ued emp loy ment; opportu nities for employment of older persons affect the need for old-age assista nce payments; prospects for vocational reh abilitation dire ctly affect employ ability. We recognize 

also tha t employment of older people is affected by overall levels of employment 

opportunities. The older jobsee ker is often at a disa dva ntag e in competition 

with younger workers, and when the re are millions of unemployed this will 

exten d even to pa rt-time employment.

TRENDS IN EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT

Since the tur n of the centu ry, the labor force par ticipation of men 65 year s of 

age and over has decrea sed sub stan tially. In 1900 more tha n two- third s of the 

male population 65 and over were in the labor force; less tha n one-third are now. 

It should be noted that labor force par ticipati on of men 65 and over was dropp ing 

before the adven t of social se cu rit y; the rat e of decline accelerated when ret ire ­

ment benefits became effe ctiv e; par ticipati on rat es rose in the war yea rs when 

job opportunitie s increas ed and competi tion from younge r groups decreased, and 

resume d it s decline follow ing w ar years.

PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT

In recent years, ano ther development has taken place in the employme nt pictur e as a whole—a significant increase in part -tim e employment. While ful ltime employment at all ages rose by about 20 percent between 1949 and 1962, 

part -tim e employment rose by ab out 62 percent. In October 1963, accordin g to the 

Monthly Rep ort in the Labor Force, almo st 11 million person s were employed
26 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

on a part-tim e basis, based on the census definition of less tha n 35 hours a week. 

(The average is about 16 hours.) Women of middle age and youth, particularly 

those of school age, account for a great proportion of part-time employment.

The 1960 census shows tha t while about one out of six employed persons works 

pa rt time, one out of four women works pa rt time. Part-time employment is 

significant in the employment of older men : of employed males 65 and over, about 

one out of three worked pa rt time in con trast to about one out of eight of all 

employed men. In the years after age 64, the proportion of part-time employment steadily increases from one in four men between 65 and 69, one in thre e 

of men 70 to 74, and about one in two of men 75 to 79. (Tab le 194, U.S. summary 

population, 1960.)

TEMPORAR Y EM PL OY ME NT

Tem porary and seasonal employment is ano ther important source of income 

to supplement retirement benefits. The proportion of men working only pa rt of 

the yea r increases significantly at 65 and after. From 14 to 19 percent (the 

higher percent among those 75 and older) of males 65 and over worked 13 

weeks or less in 1959 as compared to 2 perc ent for those in the prime working 

years.

The proportion of older women who work p ar t of the year is greater tha n for 

men, but not sub stan tially greater tha n for women in the younger years (18-22 

perc ent as compared to 11-16 percent of younger women). The data for parttime and temporary employment cannot be added together since there is undoubtedly a degree of overlapping.

OLDER PEOPLE W ANT TO WOR K

It is app are nt th at many older persons wish to work when we consider that 

in October 1963 about 3 million men and women 65 years and older were in the 

labor fo rce: 28 percent of the men of the population aged 65 and over, and 10 

percent of the women in th at age group.

It is also evident that part-time employment would not meet the needs of all 

older persons. In October 1963, only one out of eight of the male and one out 

of five unemployed women aged 55 and over who were seeking work preferred 

part-tim e employment.

Nevertheless part-time employment quite obviously meets a desire and need 

for employment among many of those 65 and over, for in this age group a larg er 

proportion are engaged in part-time employment than in any age group other 

tha n those of school age from 14 to 17.

Involu nta ry retirement

A very small proportion retire as a matter of free choice. A BOASI study 

some years back found that less than 5 percent of the retired males reti red 

voluntarily while in good health. Approximately 11 percent retired because of 

compulsory retirem ent systems, 21 percent because their jobs had been discontinued, and 7 percent were retir ed by employers because they considered the aged 

employees unable to work. Thus, at lea st about 40 percent had been forced to 

ret ire (Slavick and Wolfbein in Tibbits “Handbook of Social Gerontology” ). 

Meaning of work

What does work mean to older people? Obviously it means a higher income 

and higher standard of living. But in addition to income considerations, work 

gives an older person something to do, some place to go, and someone to talk 

to. Work opportunities can make sub stantial contributions to psychological 

and social adju stment. Dr. Wilma Donahue, supported by a VRA special project grant, has repo rted on the rehabilita tion of geriatric patients in hospital 

settings. In one of these—a county hosp ital—an intensive work program including a sheltered workshop was provided in addition to training in selfcare, physical therapy, and a program of creative a nd social activities. The results of this demonstration indicated th at approxim ately three-fourths of the 

long-stay county hospital patients achieved a high er level of self-care and 

independence and that approximately half can be returned to the community.

In ano ther instance, long-term patients in a nursing home who had been provided in the past with opportunities for activity such as in the arts and cra fts 

were brought into a program of extremely routine production activities for 

which they were paid very small sums. Even though the payments were small, 

perhaps sufficient for petty cash for spending money or for occasional gifts to
INCREASING EMPLO YMENT OPPO RTUN ITIES 27

grandchildren , the consequences of this opp ortunity to work for pay were higher 

levels of psychological a nd social adju stment.

These are insta nces of olde r persons in very poor heal th. It is ap paren t 

th at for older persons in good hea lth opportunitie s for paid employme nt are 

even more significant. In our society work in itse lf is consid ered to have a 

mora l value and to be a meas ure of social prestige and social worth . Let 

us list some thing s a job is and does beyond providing income.

(1 ) It occupies time a nd gives a pa tte rn to daily living.

(2 ) It gives status, independence, and a valid atio n of worth.

(3 ) It offers social contact s.

(4 ) It may provide physical and inte llec tual stim uli.

(5 ) It satisfies the need for usefulnes s an d accomplishment.

(6 ) It even provides a legitimat e excuse for gett ing out from underfo ot in 

one’s family.

Income of older persons—Older people n eed to work

Employment income, whe ther from full-time or part -tim e work, still constitut es one of the two most imp orta nt single sources of income for persons 

65 and over. It is, there fore, of gre at impo rtanc e not only to the indiv idual, 

but to our society generall y. Thirty-tw o perc ent of the income of persons 

aged 65 and over derive s from governmen tal pension programs not based on 

need (t h at is, OASDI, railro ad retirement, and govern ment employees— local, 

Sta te and Fed eral —combined), 33 percent of income derive s from employment. Obviously, it would requ ire enormous public expe nditu res to make 

up the difference in the incomes of older persons, if employment did not continue to be available to them a fte r age 65.

Reti rem ent means a severe reduction in income for most older persons—on 

the avera ge reti rem ent income is one-third of the income of employed persons 

aged 55-64. A table in “Employment, Income and Reti rem ent Proble ms of 

the Aging,” edited by Dr. Ju an ita Kreps, shows a mean income in round figures for men aged 55 to 64 with full-t ime employment of $6,000, and a mean 

income for men aged 65 and over withou t full-time employment of $2,000. A 

sim ilar pa tte rn is appar ent for women. Although men and women at age 65 

and over still fully employed have incomes averaging less tha n in the younger 

age group, the ir income when they do retir e from full-time employme nt is less 

tha n half th at of those who continue to work. As Dr. Kreps observed, “The 

very magn itude of income decline associated with the ending of gainful employment serves to res tri ct retirem ent to those who can afford to retire.”

Older persons are physicall y able to work

The national hea lth survey conducted by the Public Health Service (se rie s 

B -l l, table 10) shows th at most older men and women are in sufficiently good 

hea lth to work; as repo rted in household interviews. In the age group 65-7 4, 

more tha n a qu art er (26. 5 percen t) of the men and more tha n a fifth (22. 6 per ­

cen t) of the women suffer from no chronic condition. An add itional one- third 

(33. 9 and 42.3 per cen t) have one or more chronic conditions but have no lim itation of activ ity. Even for those 75 years and older 45 p ercent have no limi tation 

of activ ity. Still othe rs have no limi tation on reg ular work activit ies though 

they may be limited in games, hobbies, a nd so fo rth.

Freedom of choice

In any discussion of older persons it is imp ort ant to consider these people not 

en masse, but in their infinite varie ty. Prop osals and programs need to be 

considered in rela tion to certain basic crit eria . Does a prog ram recognize 

indiv idual differe nces? Does it recognize the worth and dignity of every 

ind ivid ual? Does it recognize the right of eve ry individu al to freedom of choice? 

Ther e is no one solution. We m ust be c onst antl y seeking pa rti al solutions which 

afford a var iety of rea l choices so that the individu al can make choices best 

suited to his needs, capab ilitie s, and desires. Freedo m implies the existence 

of reasonable alte rnative s, to live in one’s own home, or boardinghous e or home 

for the ag ed ; to contin ue workin g or re ti re ; to work full time or pa rt time, to 

work for pay o r on a voluntar y basis.

Numerous stud ies revea l th at the bulk of workers, and especially men, are 

rel uct ant to ret ire and do so mainly because of ill hea lth or ina bili ty to find 

jobs. There are differences amongst occupat ions and income levels, but ap pa rently no study has so fa r reveale d more tha n one-fourth whose reti rem ent is 

voluntary. This is not sur prising even if we not consider reduce d income.
28 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUN ITIES

Fo r af te r all, 40 or 50 years of work can be hab it forming whether we consider 

work an intr insic virtue or a necessary evil.

Nevertheless, there is a growing social acceptance of enjoy ment of leisure 

as pa rt of a way of life. Donahue and others in the cha pter on reti rem ent of 

the “Handboo k of Social Gerontology” observe tha t in some instance s “retire ment 

at tain s an aspe ct of libe ratio n from situ atio ns which are reminders of inade ­

quacies or injus tice, and thu s holds out a promise of comfort which should 

not be un deresti mated.”

Adju sting to retirem ent

Stud ies of adj ust me nt to retirem ent indic ate th at while the re are wide individual differences, the re are mark ed sim ilarities among indi vidu als in broad 

occup ation al groupings. Unskilled and semiskilled work ers face a somewhat 

diffe rent set of problems than men in the white collar, middle-income group. 

And even these problems that are sim ilar to both groups are reacte d to differ ent ly by the blue and the white colla r groups. Although less extensively 

documen ted, the re seems to be sub stan tial evidence th at professional persons 

and executives of larg e business face yet a diffe rent set of problems and rea ct 

diffe rentl y tha n eith er of the ot her two groups.

Fo r example, adeq uate reti rem ent income is seldom a major problem for 

those who have had a chance for maj or cap ital accum ulation , whereas the 

financ ial problem looms as a larg e concern for other ret ired groups. On the 

other hand, finding meaning in life ap ar t from work is a problem for many 

executives, whose success in no small pa rt has been a res ult of the ir complete 

commitment to the ir work.

Fo r executives and profes siona l men, life to be meani ngful must offer some 

challe nge and opportunity for the exercise of the ir educati on, intelligence, and 

experien ce. Since society also has a stak e in their utili zing these attr ibu tes, 

devising ways of doing so is one of the imp ortant challeng es of our time.

PAR T-T IME WORK AS AN ALTERNAT IVE

Certai nly if part-tim e or tempora ry employment were to become sufficiently 

ava ilab le so th at it were a halfway point or compromise which helped to make 

up for the loss of income and for the loss of other values assoc iated with work, 

many older persons would be more willing to face the tran sition.

Refere nce was made ear lie r to the relatively rapid growth of p art-time employment oppor tunitie s. This is a development of fairly recent years. Resistance to 

par t-tim e work has been due to the added workload involved in payroll and 

person nel processes and increased supervisory burde ns, which were signific ant 

considerations for large employers. The recen t development of machine equipment for payro ll and personnel records makes this processing not as costly as 

it was formerly. Also, there has been relatively rapid growth in occupations 

in the service and tra de sectors of the economy, and these ada pt well to the 

use of part -tim e and temp orary employees. Librarie s, banks, and othe r financial 

institu tions with peaklo ads at the end of the day or the end of the week are 

incre asing ly recognizing advanta ges in the use of part -tim e workers. While 

the preponderance of jobseekers wish full-time work, a significant proportion are 

inte rest ed in part -tim e employment as was indic ated earlier . Twenty percent 

or more of work ers in the profes siona l and tech nical occupations, sales and 

pri vate household work, p refe r part -tim e employment.

Federal, legislation and HEW program s encourage part-time work

In recent years social secu rity amendments have encouraged part -tim e ivork. 

The 1961 amendments to the Social Security Act modified the so-called retir ement test to reduce deterre nts to work. When a beneficiary earn s $1,200 a yea r 

or less, he and his family get all of the ir benefits for the year. If the reti red 

worker earn s more tha n $1,200 in a year, $1 of the benefits is withheld for each 

$2 earn ed from $1,200 to $1,700. For every doll ar earn ed over $1,700, $1 in 

benefits is w ithheld. Regardless of to tal ea rnin gs for a year, benefits are p ayable 

for any month in which the ret ire d worker neither ear ns wages of more than 

$100 nor perfo rms sub stantial services in self-employment. After age 72, a beneficiary is not subj ect to the reti rem ent te st; benefits are payab le for any month 

in which the beneficiary is 72 or over.

The Public Welfare Amendments of 1962 encouraged old-age a ssistance recipients to con tribu te to the ir own suppo rt. If a Sta te enac ts the necessa ry legislatio n, an elderly man or woman as a result of these changes, may incre ase his
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES 29

income by $30 a month while an old-age assistance recipient. In determining 

need, States may disregard the first $10 and half of the next $40 of monthly 

earn ed income.

Certain of the new research programs of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare can supp ort demonstration programs related to paid or unpaid 

employment. The Gerontology Branch of the Public Health Service supp orts a 

project at Brandeis University which is determining how older people in good 

hea lth can he used as a volunteer resource in the extension of hea lth services 

to older persons. This has been a 3-year project and a final report is due in 

July. The Welfare Adm inistration’s research and demonstration gra nts could 

support, for example, demonstrations relating to counseling older persons for 

retr aining and reemployment. The Vocational Rehabilita tion Adm inistration 

conducts numerous studies on the employability of older persons.

Older women as homemakers

The Welfare Adm inistration is strongly stressin g homemaker services. A 

project in Arkansas showed th at many older women frequently were trained 

as home companions and practic al nurses. This suggests that these older women 

are a good source of trainee s for homemaker services. If some research and 

demonstration gra nts were made available for such training, then the 75 percent 

Fed eral matching fund s available to State welfare departm ents for such services as homemaking would provide a source of supp ort for employment opportun itie s in this field.

The Office of Aging has published two case studies in its series “Pa tte rns for 

Progress on Aging” which have encouraged efforts to provide employment for 

older persons. Case Study No. 2, “A Vocational Tra ining and Placement Pro ­

gram for Older Workers,” describes a program in operation for several years in 

Arkansas. Fifty-four traini ng courses were offered and 90 percent of those 

tra ine d were placed in employment in many occupations including practical 

nurses, waitresses, home companions.

Case Study No. 7, “A Vocational Counseling Program for Older Workers,” 

describes a program in Cleveland which has helped “scores of middle-aged and 

older people to find new purposes in life and opportunity to continue as selfsufficient members of the ir families and communities.” The stud y recommended 

an addition to its service of a “clearing center for part-time, occasional, temporary, and short-term jobs.” The report observes that part-tim e work is difficult 

to come by.

Sheltered workshops

Not all older persons who want and need work are able to enter the competitive 

labor marke t withou t some prior preparatio n including work conditioning. In 

addition to its State-F ederal vocational rehabilita tion program under which 30 

percent of those rehabilita ted are over age 45, the Vocational Rehabilitation 

Adm inistration has been supp orting special demonstration projects which offer 

vocational rehabilita tive services to older disabled persons. One such which 

operated over a period of 4 years was conducted by the Fed eration Employment 

and Guidance Service of New York City. Some of the findings of this project 

which served disabled persons 55 years of age and over, a re of pa rticu lar interest. 

Although these people were motivated to seek the service primarily because of 

economic reasons, other personal needs were almost as compelling. Many had 

need for in terperso nal relationships, status, activity, and independence which they 

felt could be met by remunerative employment. As compared to a group between 

55 and 64, disabled individuals 65 and over tended to have exceedingly stron g 

employment motivation and relatively well preserved physical c apacity and skills. 

Because of long unemployment and changing capacities and a period of disappointing jobseeking, many showed evidence of a need for workshop experience. 

Their limited capacities and the earnings limitations imposed by old-age and 

survivors insuranc e created widespread need for part-time employment. With 

increasin g age this need became more pronounced. For those who were judged 

to have at least a minimum level of placement potential and who followed 

through on their programs, almost 75 percent obtained one or more jobs after 

rehabilita tion services. The older disabled workers in this project for the 

most part were placed in clerical services and low-skilled manual jobs.
30 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Special projects to stim ulate employment opportunities

Despite the increasing incidence of part-tim e employment, such jobs are

still a minor proportion of employment. Because of discriminatory atti tud es 

and for other reasons, older persons remain handicapped in the ir competition 

with middle-aged women and young workers for those part-tim e jobs which are 

available.

President Kennedy in his message on the elderly citizens of our Nation said, 

“Our Nation m ust underta ke an imaginative and far-reaching effort—in both the 

public and private sectors of our society—for the development of new approaches 

and new paths to the employment of older citizens.” For this purpose the President recommended a program of gra nts for experimental and demonstration 

projects to stim ulate needed employment opportunities for the aged.

An analysis by the Office of Aging describes the background and employment 

provisions of the Senior Citizens Community Plan ning and Services Act introduced by Senato r Smathers and Congressman Mills. Par t E of the act, administere d by the Secretary of Labor w ould:

Authorize $50 million over the next 5 years.

Make S tate and local governments and nonprofit organizatio ns eligible for 

gra nts and utilize support projects to demonstrate the employment capa ­

cities of older workers.

Encourage both full- and part-tim e employment.

Support public or community services which would not otherwise he 

available.

Require Federal g ran ts to be matched by at least 50 percent of the cost of 

any project.

There are many opportunities for useful work which public and private 

nonprofit institution s could make available with some financial assistance. 

These include such activities as school lunch-hour relief, child care centers for 

working mothers, home care for invalids, assistance in the schools, vocational 

training, and programs to prevent juvenile delinquency. There are at the same 

time, among reti red persons, thousands of professionally trained and skilled individuals including public schoolteachers, lawyers, dietitians, nutritio nists, 

social welfare and recreation workers, librarians, physicians, nurses, and other 

trained retired persons of lesser but useful skills.

Homeownership and other longtime ties to the ir community and their circle 

of family and friends limit the mobility of older persons. Opportunities are 

needed through which they can find a needed supplement to the ir severely 

reduced incomes, and provide a useful service to the community. In many 

insta nces part-tim e opportunities would provide an ideal solution.

Recognizing tha t the problem of th e middle-aged unemployed w’orkers 45 to 60, 

who do not have the altern ative of retirem ent, is more extreme tha n those of 

reti rem ent age, nevertheless, some approaches must be sought to the solution 

of the problem of the retired person who needs, wants, and is able to work. 

It may be anticipated tha t the success of such endeavors will also aid th e middleaged worker or jobseeker in at least two respec ts: (1) it would demonstrate 

the continued competence and work capacity of older persons even into advanced 

ages, and thereby diminish the bias aga inst older workers generally; and (2) 

it would encourage a number of older work ers now fea rful of the consequences 

of tota l retirement, to ret ire from the ir present employment, and thereby open 

up opportunities to those of younger age.

SUM MAR Y

The long-term trend in labor force participation of men 65 and over has been 

downward. In recent years, part-tim e employment has increased. Among employed persons 65-plus particularly , the proportion is high, risin g as age increases.

Because employment means higher income and meets a variety of social and 

psychological needs, most male workers and many women would prefer to 

contin ue working. The transition from full-time work to complete retirement is for most abrupt, involuntary, and beset with problems. Repeated sur ­

veys and experience during wa r years when partici pation of men 65-plus in the 

labo r force was almost twice as high as of present clearly establish th at many 

more older men wish employment tha n now have that opportunity. It is fairly 

evident too, that the hea lth of older people places no unusual limitations on 

the capacity to work of at least ha lf of those 65 and over.

Quite obviously the replacement of income now earn ed by employed men and 

women would necessitate larg e public expenditures.
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES 31

We believe it is best for society and for older persons as free and independent 

individuals to have the widest possible choices. Part-time employment opportunities widens the area of choice. It provides a supplement to income and 

a tran sition from full-time employment to complete retireme nt, thus cushioning 

the shock.

It does not seem likely, while overall unemployment remains high, th at the 

decline in the rates of labor force partici pation by older people will be reversed. 

Recent tren ds in part-time employment indicate th at here their experience has 

been relatively favorable. It would seem sensible to go along with the trends, 

and do wh at we can to stim ulate opportunities for part-time employment of 

older persons. Program s such as sheltered workshops, special training and 

placement, projects to stim ulate employment as in the Smathers-Mills bill, the 

“Domestic Peace Corps” and for those who do not need income, volunteer service 

with private organizations—all these would expand opportu nities for older 

persons.

Senator Randolph. Senator Moss, will you comment or ask some 

questions ?

Senator Moss. I wonder, Dr. Kent, is not one of the deterrents to 

your efforts to provide employment opportunities for older people 

the unemployed labor force we have and the feeling in some of those 

younger workers th at perhaps their chances of getting a job are thus 

diminished by any jobs given out to the older folks ?

Dr. K ent. I think, Senator Moss, this is very true. As long as we 

have 4 million people who are unemployed there will be great competition for jobs and it will be probably to the disadvantage of the older 

person.

In fact, you can see this as you look at the trend of employment of 

older people. I indicated to you there was a steady downward trend. 

This is a steady downward trend over a long-term period. This was 

not true during the period of World Wa r II when there was a shortage 

of labor. At tha t time, large numbers of older people came into the 

labor force demonstrating two things: One, that older people have the 

capabilities to do work effectively and they also have a desire to work.

Our problem here, as with so many problems, is related to a larger 

one. Unless we have an economy th at is viable where we have fulltime employment, I think we are going to have great difficulty here.

Senator Moss. So it would furthe r indicate tha t the jobs that would 

be available for the older people should be specialized and the kind 

tha t are not generally being sought by this body of unemployed? 

Does that follow ?

Dr. Kent. No, I am not sure that th at would follow, Senator Moss. 

In other words, if there is a shortage of jobs I am not sure tha t it 

should be the older person who should be penalized. I think in actuality today it is the older person who is disadvantaged. I see no reason 

from a theoretical viewpoint it should be the older person who should 

bear the brunt of unemployment.

Let me say, however, tha t the bill to which Secretary Moynihan 

spoke, the Senior Citizens Community Service Planning Act, the proposed legislation, is geared toward providing employment in noncompetitive areas so tha t it would not take employment away from people 

today, would not add to unemployment.

Senator Moss. Thank you, Dr. Kent. That has been a very interesting discussion. Certainly it has contributed greatly to our 

information.

Senator Randolph. Dr. Kent, would you ask your Department this 

question: Wh at is the outlook for higher part-time and full-time em-
32 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

plo ym ent for o lder folk s 10 years fro m now un de r t he im pact of tec hnological change and , wh at some of us feel is the m onster evil, chron ­

ically r isi ng unemploy ment ?

W ha t is the ans wer to these peop le now ? Make some definite suggestions, wou ld you, oth er than wh at you say in yo ur statem ent ?

Dr . Kent. I will be very glad to sub mit a sup ple me nta l statem ent. 

We h ave to day some sta tistics in terms o f h ow ma ny people are likely 

to be ov er 65 in 1970 and 1980.

Se na tor Randolph. You have a pr og ram fo r th at pe riod ?

Dr . Kent. While no one can foretell the future, Mr. Ch airma n, we 

can at least speculate wh at we think the tren d will be a nd make suggestions as to w hat we think w ill be des irable.

Se na tor Randolph. Before you leave the witness chair, Doc tor, 

wou ld you say th at prov iding additio na l jobs fo r old er women in the 

homemaking services would be creatin g jobs which do not now exist 

to m eet needs which are not now bein g met ?

Dr . K en t. I think so, Mr. Chairma n. Th e experien ces in Ca lifornia 

an d in Arkansas, would ind ica te th at the old er woman makes a very 

excellent homem aker. In Am eric a today we ha ve relati vely few hom eworkers . I say relati vely few com par ed to, say, Scandin avia, in 

rega rd to th e size of the ir population .

So, I th ink i n trai ni ng hom emakers we are not taki ng jobs a way b ut 

we a re e xp andin g job o pportun ities. Ag ain let me say th at the Publi c 

W elfare Am end ments of 1962, which the Con gress enacted mak e it 

possible fo r a State me eting certa in prog ram req uirem ent s to receive 

75 perce nt Fe de ral matc hin g to set up prog rams of hom ema ker 

services for older people throug ho ut thei r State.

So, there is a rea l op po rtu nity to provide a very need ed and impo rtan t service and at th e same time utilize old er people in prov idi ng 

that.

Se na tor R andolph. Dr. Ke nt, you are f am ili ar with the c ontr oversy 

in the L ab or Committee of the Sen ate in reference to the agita tio n of 

some of ou r mem bers th at we should no t provide fun ds in the vocatio na l edu cation bill fo r wh at the y call tea ching girls on the farm to 

cook?

Dr. Ken t. No, si r; I am no t fam iliar with this.

Se nator Randolph. I t is a ra th er interesti ng situatio n. You are 

presentin g a different pict ure today. Some members say this is money 

wasted, th at we do not need to do this .

W ha t is y ou r comm ent on it? I t is a 4 -I I Club prog ram in pa rt.

Dr . Ken t. I am no t fa m ili ar with the pa rtic ul ar issue to which 

you re fer . In re ga rd to money spent on tra in in g old er people, dem onstr ation a fter dem onstration seems to conclusively show how im po rta nt 

th is is.

Th e experienc e, fo r example, o f the H ea lth and W elf are Council of 

Clevela nd, the experience of ou r Vocational Re habil ita tio n Ad mi nis ­

trat io n ind icates th at money inve sted , and I use the ter m “invested” 

delibe rately , in educating ou r c itiz enry pays handsome dividends.

Se na tor Randolph. Tha t includes the domestic courses?

Dr . K ent. Tha t w ould cer tainly include trai ni ng homemak ers which 

is an a rea I know where we hav e done effective w ork fo r old er people.

Se na tor Randolph. We are g ratefu l fo r yo ur testimo ny, D octo r.
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES 33

The subcommittee would appreciate it if you desire to file additional material and supplemental facts. We are going to dig deeply 

into this subject. We think a year or two from now it will have an 

an impact that we do not even recognize today. It is for that reason 

tha t we have begun, even at this season of the year in the last hours 

of the first session of the 88th Congress, to study this problem. We 

shall go into it in depth. We shall attempt to understand the scope 

of the problem and to have not only your testimony today but your 

continued counsel. This will be a help.

Thank you very much.

Dr. Kent. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We appreciate the opportunity to testify.

Senator Randolph. I understand tha t William C. Fitch, the executive director of the American Association of Retired Persons and 

National Retired Teachers Association, has found it impossible to 

be present this morning and has asked the privilege of filing a statement to be considered as part of today’s hearing. Is that correct, Mr. 

Norman?

Mr. Norman. Tha t is correct.

(The prepared statement follows:)

Sta teme nt of William C. F it ch, E xec utive Director of National Retired Teachers Asso ciation and Ame ric an Asso ciation of Retired P ersons

My name is William C. Fitch. I am the executive director of two associations of retired persons representing a combined membership of more tha n 

700,000—the National Retired Teachers Association and the American Association of Retired Persons. These are nonprofit, nonpartisan organizatio ns 

dedicated to helping older persons help themselves and each other.

Second only to health, among the most imp ortant problems of the la ter years is 

the concern for income and employment.

I shall address my rem arks only to those aspects of employment th at have been 

revealed to us through our members and the programs and studies th at have 

been conducted in the areas of employment and training.

There are few aspects of employment for the elderly th at have not demanded 

our attention. The main categories include the follow ing:

1. The retired worker with insufficient income to maintain a decent standard of living.

2. The retiree who needs but a few quarters of coverage to qualify for 

social security.

3. The “social security” widow who is not yet age 62 and whose youngest 

child is over 18 years of age.

4. The healthy qualified worker who is needed in industry bu t has reached 

compulsory retire ment age.

5. The “sorry you are too old” job applicant who is st ill under 50 years of 

age.

6. The bored, frus tra ted retired individual who cannot adjus t to full-tim e 

leisure or loss of st atu s as an “unemployed worker,” and

7. The tru ly unemployable elderly.

We have attempted to conduct experiments and studies among our members 

and would like to sha re our findings in the hope that others might profit from 

the experience.

I would like to refer to each one of the seven categories and outline the action 

we have take n to meet the challenge.

1. IN S U F F IC IE N T IN COM E

Almost all of our members can use additional income and many are in 

desperate need of employment to supplement the ir small social secu rity benefits 

or company pensions. Freq uently these are individuals who are in an income 

brac ket above the level to qualify fo r public assistance or are too proud to accept 

it.
34 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUN ITIES

In the many face ts of our programs we have identified employment which 

can be handled by older persons. In our recruitment and from among the residents of our retired teachers home, we are knowledgeable of the income needs 

of the indiv iduals and attempt to find jobs or avail able assignme nts suitable to 

their abilities.

Specific examples of work provided include the mainte nance of membership 

files, ful filling requests for inform ation in response to inquiries (over 85.000 

requests from the Jan ua ry Reader’s Dige st art icle). These tasks are well suited 

to the intere st of older persons in part- or full-t ime employment. This work can 

be scheduled on a flexible basis to meet the physical limit ation s of the older 

worker.

Positions of receptionists, telephone operators, inform ation clerks, and administr ativ e employees have been filled from the ranks of older job applicants. We 

do not have any age barrier s to positions and mature indiv idual s are given 

preference fo r availabl e positions.

Our experience furt her documents the studies published by the Depar tment o f 

Labo r t hat show the older worker to be loyal, dependable and valua ble employees.

Most of the older employees are so gratef ul for the opportunity to demonstrate 

their abi lity aft er being so often rejected and are the organ izatio n’s best public 

relations representatives.

2. NEED SOCIAL SECURITY QUARTERS OF COVERAGE

Whenev er an appli cant is in need o f several quarters of coverage to q ualify for 

socia l security, we are freque ntly able to provide bona fide employment to meet 

the le gal requirements for benefits.

There are many part-time jobs tha t can provide the minimum $50 quarterly 

income. Employers are often willing to hire an older person for a limit ed period.

3. SOCIAL SECU RITY WIDOW

Inclu ded in the curriculum of our Institute of Life tim e Learnin g is a basic 

course in bookkeeping, business Eng lish, shorthand, and typing. Many women 

55 years of age and older have been able to use this program as a refresher 

trainin g course and placements have been obtained for all who sati sfac tori ly 

completed the course. Many have been able to obtain interes ting positions where 

mature adults were preferred.

We have hired four o f the “students” on our own st aff at t he regular pay scale 

for qualified typists or stenographers.

4. COMPULSORY RET IREMENT

Our associations fel t so keenly the need for public education to show the “ folly 

of obsolescence at 65” that we commissioned a play, “ Eve r Since Ap ril ” and 

made it available at no cost as a public service. Over 1,500 churches, civic 

groups, univer sities, labor unions, and similar groups have used the play for 

study, training , and community education. We have also continued to recommend legislation that would find more suita ble c riteria than chronological age for 

retirem ent purposes.

5. “sorry too old”

We have been all too well aware tha t older persons were not “m arketable” 

in a job market that is under pressure to find employment for young adults. 

We have attempted through preretirement courses and programs to employ the 

need for special approaches to seeking employment.

Our affiliate organi zation, the Retirem ent, Research & We lfar e Association, 

compiled a report on “Employment Aft er Retir emen t” that has revealed many 

intere sting fac ts that can be helpf ul in seeking employment. The size of the 

organization most willing to accept older workers, the skills tha t were most 

help ful, the assist ance that was most usefu l are reflected in the summary report, 

“ Employm ent Aft er Retire ment,” submitted herewith as part of this statement. 

To our knowledge this is the largest sampling of employment among retirees 

that has been attempted. The inform ation is identified by sex and geograph ical 

locatio n which may serve as a basis for futu re study.
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES 35

6. TH E BORED JOBSEE KER

The employment of the elderly program has been complicated by jobseekers 

who cann ot remain retired after a few short weeks or months of leisure and 

full-time recre ation. They feel a compulsion to return to work.

Our findings reveal that more people seek jobs for “something to do” tha n to 

supplement the ir reti rem ent income.

For this group we have institu ted a program known as the Insti tute of Lifetime Learning that is directed toward providing an intere st and purposeful use 

of free time. This program has alre ady proven its purpose and many have expressed themselves as having “found themselves and are no longer inte rested in 

paid employment.” Participation in the ins titute has provided a real substitute 

for employment at a level th at is “respectable” and recognized as worthwhile in 

continuing t he ir role as respectable citizens.

7. TH E UNE MPLOYA BLE

For this group we offer counseling and refer ral services. These activities are 

carried on in our hospitality centers in St. Pete rsbu rg, Fla., Long Beach, Calif., 

and Washington, D.C. Individuals coming to these locations are referre d to 

agencies that are qualified to provide service or assistanc e which will answ er the 

needs of the individual.

Where income is not involved we atte mpt to include the person in a volunteer 

program. The possibilities for volunteer service are so broad th at even individuals who a re handicapped are able to partic ipa te by telephone or in person. In 

this way many of the unemployable can still feel needed and useful even though 

they cann ot qualify for reg ular employment.

We must be realistic in a market th at more and more must provide employment for younger persons. We must use imagination and initiative to find noncompetitive job opportunities for older persons.

The increasin g need for services for the elderly is creating a new type of work 

opportunities for mature adults. The homemaker services, mobile meals, and 

other activities are creating jobs which are especially well suited for the older 

person. Tra inin g may be required but this can be accomplished under the new 

programs that are being developed for older persons.

The need for reti rem ent conditioning or preparatio n for the later years is 

becoming increasingly impo rtant. We must introduce at an early stage in the 

career of employees the need to prepare for longer periods in retireme nt.

With automation and economists indicating an early retirem ent age, we must 

be prepared to have realistic programs to satisfy the needs of older persons.

It is imp ortant to recognize the kinds of employment that may be required for 

the elderly. We must be equally pr epared to find meaningful substitutes.

[R ep rint ed from th e A pr il-M ay 196 3 Mod ern M atu ri ty — th e offic ial pu bl ic at io n fo r th e 

American Ass oc iatio n of R et ir ed Per so ns ]

E m pl oym en t Apt er R et ir em en t

Retirement Research & Welfare Association presents the results 

of 11,054 questionnaires return ed by members of the American 

Association of Retired Persons in response to a request for information on employment a fte r re tirem ent.

To our knowledge this response from our questionnaire appearing in Modern 

Maturity is the larg est sample to be studied in this are a of interest, and is the 

first nationwide report based on such information volunteered by older persons 

themselves.

Because of the fairly equal distribu tion of replies from 5,803 men and 5,251 

from women, the study has added significance in relatin g the many factors of 

employment after retirem ent as they apply by sex. * * *

The sta te of retirem ent residence was requested on each questionnaire to aid 

in identifying geographical variati ons in data and to assist in evaluating the 

findings for furth er resear ch and action.

The summaries have been tabulated on an area basis that reflect the geographical divisions of our association. These are identical to the nine regions of the 

Departm ent of Health, Education, a nd W elfare.
36 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Each of the charts show the area percentage followed by the national percentage based on the total number of answers in each category as 100 percent.

Variations from a total of 100 percent usually result from a failure to answer 

the question completely or from giving multiple answ ers to a particular question. For the most pa rt this does not materially dis tor t the overall findings.

It will be helpful to keep the above charts of the regional boundaries in mind. 

Many of the percentages clearly reflect the economic, social, and cultural patte rns 

or tre nds peculiar to a specific area.

In this report it is not our purpose to interp ret the significance of each chart. 

It is our intention to repo rt accurately the fac tua l data which might then be 

interprete d on the basis of organizational intere st or program development.

We are grateful to the membership of the American Association of Retired 

Persons for their prompt and helpful responses. It is our hope th at these data 

may assist in changing many of the outd ated sterotypes and mista ken impressions of employment after retirem ent and stim ulate practical action th at will 

lead to b ette r understanding and programs that will meet the needs brought into 

sharp focus by this study.

Chart I

Employment after retirement

[I n pe rc en t]

P aid e m plo ym e n t

N o t e m pl oye d F u ll -t im e p aid e m ­

p lo y m en t

M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en

Area:

l ....................... ................... - .................. . . . 47.5 47.1 52.5 52.9 15.5 23 .8

2___ ________ _______________________ 42 .6 52.3 57.4 47.7 38.7 32.3

3_________________ ____ _____________ 43.4 36.3 56.6 63.7 24 .2 45.0

4____________________________________ 37.8 44 .9 62.2 55.1 23.3 28.9

5......................... . ......... . ............. . ................. 45.1 37.2 54.9 62.8 20.8 41.3

6____________________________________ 47.1 51.7 52 .9 48.3 31.5 50 .2

7............................................ ......... ................. 54.0 46.1 46 .0 53 .9 26 .9 42.5

8_______ _____ _______ _______ _______ 41 .3 41 .6 58.7 58.4 10.0 30 .0

9____________________________________ 31.9 43.9 68.1 56.1 15.3 24.1

N ati o n al__________________ ____ ____ 43.4 44.6 56.6 55.4 22 .9 35.3
INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUN ITIES 37

Chart II

Employment in company of approximate number of workers

[In ’percent]

Less th an

100 men 

and wom en

101 to 400 

men and 

women

401 to 1,000 

men and 

women

Over 1,000 

men and 

women

Selfemployed 

men an d 

women

Area:

1____ __________________ 48.2 2.5 3.0 9.9 36.4 2............................................... 49.8 7.7 6.7 11.1 24.7 3................................. ............. 39.7 15.5 13.6 15.1 16.1 4____ ___________________ 68.6 5.9 8.8 7.6 9.1 5___________ _______ ____ 67.7 3.9 4.5 9.0 14.9 6_______________________ 35.3 26.2 21.7 11.8 5.0 7................................................ 54.4 30.5 .0 3.3 11.8 8_______________________ 55.0 20.0 5.0 .0 20.0 9_____ ________________ 48.9 11.3 .8 5.6 33.4 National ________________ 51.9 13.7 7.1 8.1 19.2

Chart III

Reasons given for retirement

]Pe rcent[

Com pany policy Automa tion Disability

Men Women Men Women Me n Women

Area:

1................................ 91.5 86.9 0 11.9 2.4 7.0 2 ................................................ 91.4 75.7 3.2 4.4 3.7 2.8 3 _______ _______ _ 91.7 84.7 16.7 5.5 1.8 4.2 4_____________ 90.7 70.9 18.3 4.8 .4 2.2 5 . ......................... ................. 85.8 74.7 1.3 3.9 4.7 1.1 6 _______________ _____ 84.7 72.5 2.8 14.0 .0 9. 5 7 ................................................................ 63.3 79.2 16.7 6.2 .0 6.2 8 ____________ . 93.3 66.0 .0 .0 6.7 .0 9 __________________ .. 90.0 56.9 5.7 21.1 3.8 2.5 Na tio nal.______ _________________ 86.9 74.1 7.1 7.9 2.6 3.9

Chart IV

Need for employment after retirement

[In percent]

To supp lement 

reti rem ent income

Desire to 

keep active

Men Women Me n Women

Area:

1........................................................ 63.3 69.4 93.3 95.4 2 .. ........................................................................... 77.5 70.3 93.1 90.3 3.................................... ................................................. . ............ 65.9 62.4 69.2 56 6 4 . _____ __________ _________ 81.3 80.6 97.5 92.0 5. ................................................................................................... 70.2 84. 7 94.9 95 1 6........................................ . ......................................... 59.1 57.3 95. 7 96.8 

98.1 7............................ . ...................................................................... 70.6 84.0 98.8 8....................... ............................................................................. 23.6 69.4 100.0 100.0 9.................................................. . ................................................ 69.5 85.2 89.1 97 6 Nat ion al______ _____ ______________________________ 64.5 73.7 92.4 91.3
38 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

C hart V

Reasons given -for being unsuccessful in securing work since retir ement

[I n p er ce nt ]

Age r es tr ic ­

tions H ealt h r ea so ns

L ack of avail ­

ab il it y o f w or k

L ac k o f t ra in ­

ing

E m plo yer s cost 

of in su ra nce 

an d pe nsi on

M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en

Are a:

1______________ 61.1 32. 2 25.0 49.0 53.1 28.3 4.3 0.7 21.9 18.7

2______________ 69.2 55.6 12.9 24.8 47. 0 40.1 3.5 5.2 30.4 8.0

3______________ 80.0 57.2 5.0 15.3 59. 3 43.3 5.7 8.3 37.9 17.2

4_______ ____ 70.1 31. 8 39.1 5.4 67.0 51.9 18.2 3.0 26.9 32.8

5______________ 53.5 68.4 23.2 13.4 58.1 65.4 9.7 6.3 24.6 26.6

6______________ 38.9 25.5 14.4 46.7 38.9 60.0 8.3 12.5 20. C 23.3

7______________ 80.0 24. 0 13.3 61.5 55.0 30.8 0 3.8 21.7 3.8

8______________ 83.3 75. 0 16.7 10.0 38.9 40.0 22.2 20.0 0 10.0

9______________ 72.5 66.1 18.8 11. 6 52. 3 67.8 18.5 15.2 21.6 12.0

N ati o n al_____ 67.6 48.4 18.7 26.4 52.1 47.5 10.0 8.3 22.7 16.9
C h art VI

Contact that aided securing of employment after retirement

[I n p er ce nt]

O w n i n it ia ti v e F o lk s w ho k n ew F o rm er em plo yer W a n t ads P riv ate e m plo ym e n t ag en cy S ta te e m plo y­ m e n t ag en cy U n io n o r pr of es ­ si onal o rg an iz at io n

M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en

A re a:

1_________ _______________ 59.4 54. 4 34 .9 44 .2 13.5 20.7 1.7 12.5 0 6.6 0 13.0 3.3 1.6

2..................................- ............. 65.3 69.2 31 .9 17.7 17.4 26.7 11.7 9.1 15.8 13.1 2.8 3.7 .8 3.4

3 ............ ......... ............. ............. 76.2 54. 3 26.2 23.2 4.0 21.8 2.8 3. 9 1.7 9. 2 8.3 3. 9 5.8 1.8

4 _________________________ 73.9 61. 8 20.7 24.9 11.1 22.9 21.8 9. 0 10.4 2.8 .7 4. 9 .4 .7

5 . . . ...............- _____ ________ 65.8 61. 4 41 .2 34.3 11.2 16.1 13.2 10.5 1.2 5.2 4. 7 8. 0 2.7 1.2

6_____ _________ __________ 31.1 67.0 35 .2 31 .7 19.2 20.5 11.1 7.8 6.5 2. 2 6. 2 4.4 4. 2 2. 2

7................................ ................... 58.3 50.0 36 .7 47 .2 3.3 25.0 1.7 0 0 2.8 6. 6 8.3 3.3 0

8............................ ....................... 43.3 90.6 13.3 6. 2 35 .0 31 .8 8.3 0 0 0 0 0 8.3 0

9 ______________ ____ ___ 67.1 62 .7 27. 4 29.8 9.5 21.5 3. 5 14.0 .5 6.6 1.0 1.1 .5 .8

N a ti o n a l__________________ 60 .0 63.4 29.7 28.8 13.8 23 .0 8.4 7.4 4.0 5.3 3.3 5. 2 3. 2 1.3

INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

00CO
C h ar t V II

Pa id employm ent since retirement

[I n per ce nt]

O

K in d of w ork o b ta in ed Sk ill s re q u ir ed R ela te d to fo rm er em p lo y m en t

Ski lled la bor U n sk il le d labor C le rica l or 

office ty p e

N o t use d 

fo rm er ly

D ev el oped as 

a h o b b y

L earn ed for a 

jo b

S im il ar ty p e D if fe re nt ty p e

M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en

A re a:

1_____ ______________________________ 10.2 9. 0 39.9 53.6 49.9 37 .4 31.1 30 .9 34.3 34.1 34 .6 35.0 12.9 33 .7 53.9 66.3

2............... — ____ ____________________ 12.4 7.2 50.9 53.2 36.7 39 .6 34.0 29.4 35 .8 37.1 30 .2 33 .5 33.3 17.1 66.7 60 .4

3 ____________________________________ 7.8 6. 5 54.0 55.6 38 .2 37.9 32.8 31.3 33.3 34.9 33 .9 33 .8 26.4 37.2 73.6 62 .8

4_____________________________ _______ 3.1 6. 2 55.2 54.5 41.7 39 .3 29.8 32.2 36.2 35.1 34 .0 32 .7 34.6 34 .4 48.8 48.9

5_________________ ____ _____________ 11.5 5.4 49 .5 57.2 39 .0 37.4 30 .6 32 .7 35.9 35.6 33.5 31.7 50.0 17.5 50 .0 82 .5

6 ____________________________________ 13.1 8.6 46.1 51.8 40 .8 39 .6 31 .2 33 .2 34.5 34 .3 34.3 32 .5 32.1 28.9 25.0 39.4

7____________________________________ 15.3 9. 9 46 .5 57.8 38 .2 32.3 27.4 32 .8 35 .8 35.9 36 .7 31 .4 29.2 20 .8 50 .8 79.2

8____________________________________ 5. 8 1.6 55.0 60.4 39 .2 38 .0 34 .5 24.4 32.9 37 .5 32.6 38.1 20.0 .0 40 .0 50 .0

9__________ _______ _________________ 12.1 10. 6 45.4 48.9 42 .5 40 .5 25.2 27.2 38.6 35 .9 36 .2 36 .9 44 .8 4.8 38 .5 45 .2

N a ti o n a l____________________________ 10.1 7.2 49 .2 54 .8 40 .7 38 .0 30 .7 30 .5 35 .3 35 .6 34 .0 33 .9 31 .4 26 .0 49 .7 59.4

[A m ounts i n p er ce nt]

L e n g th o f em p lo y m en t R ela ti onsh ip to fo rm er w ag es Soc ia l s ecu ri ty 

li m it ati o n s

T e m p o ra ry

(few d ay s 

or m onth s)

P erm a n en t 

(as lo ng as 

w ante d)

S im il ar Le ss

C om para ble to 

th a t of o th er 

w or ke rs

R es tr ic te d b y 

social se curi ty 

or pen si on p la n

M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en M en W om en

A re a:

1 - .............................................. — ..................... - ................. - ......................................... 51.8 50.6 5. 5 4. 9 40 .6 38 .4 21.7 25 .5 37 .7 36.1 64.9 73.2

2...................... ......... . ............... . .................................................................- ..................... 42 .2 56.2 3. 5 4.4 30 .0 41.1 31 .7 20.4 38.3 38 .5 75.1 62.53_____________ ______________ ____________ — ........... - ..................................... 50.9 47.7 4. 9 5.2 40 .2 36 .6 23.8 26 .0 36 .0 37.4 63.1 46 .0

4 _______ ____ _________________________ ____ __________________________ 43.5 49 .9 4.1 5.0 46.8 37.1 20.0 26.6 33 .2 36 .3 69.1 41 .8

5............................................................................................................................. ............... 55.4 48 .5 4. 5 5.1 40 .8 35 .9 23.5 28.0 35.7 36.1 59.9 77.0

6_____________________ _____ - ............. ............. . ....................... ................. ........... 63.6 52.3 3.6 4. 8 37 .8 39.2 23.3 28 .4 38.9 32.4 64.5 72.7

7______ ___________________ _________________ ______________________ — . 54.4 57.4 4.6 4. 3 35.1 41.4 26 .5 28 .3 38.4 30.3 59.5 43 .5

8______ ________ ______________ ____ ____ _____ ________________________ 42 .2 47 .5 5. 8 5.2 35.9 38 .9 35 .4 24.2 28.7 36 .9 87.5 96 .9

9 __________________________________ ____ _____ __________ ____ _________ 49 .4 37 .8 5.0 6. 2 37 .4 29.1 24.5 35.1 38.1 35 .8 53.8 65.3N a ti o n a l.................................................................... . ................................... ................... 50.3 49 .7 4. 6 5. 0 38 .3 37 .5 25 .6 27 .0 36.1 35.5 66.3 64.3

INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
C h a r i V III

Interest ratin g of volu nta ry service

Ar ea :

l . ..........

2..............

3 ..........

4 .............5 ...........

6 .______ 7 . -..........

8 ............

9______ Nationa l.

Rel igious

(1)

Civic

(2)

Fr ater n il

(3)

Politica l

(4)

Ph ila nt hr op ic

(5)

VAV S

(6,

Re d Cross

(7)

iY o u th g rou ps

(8)

Men Wom en M en Women Men Wo men Men Women Men Women Men Wo me n Men Wo men Men Wom en

1 1 2 3 3 6 7 6 5 4 7 5 4 2 6 7

1 l 2 2 4 3 7 7 3 5 8 6 6 4 6 8

1 1 2 2 4 7 6 8 5 4 5 5 3 3 7 6

1 1 2 2 5 8 5 5 3 4 6 6 7 3 4 7

2 1 1 2 3 4 5 7 4 5 8 8 7 3 6 6

1 l 2 2 2 5 4 6 5 3 5 8 5 7 4 41 1 3 2 2 3 4 5 5 4 6 5 5 5 7 5

1 1 2 2 4 3 3 4 4 4 5 4 6 3’ 4 5

1 1 3 2 2 7 6 6 4 4 5 5 7 3 4 8

f 1 f 

5

1 1 2 2 { 4 } 

3

6 5 4 5 5 7 3 4 $

I 7 1 1 8

INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUN ITIES
42 INCREASING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Chart IX

Reason rating o f factors limiting performance of voluntary service

Hea lth reasons

(1)

Additional cost 

involved

(2)

Lack of transportatio n

(3)

Lack of training

(4)

Men Women Men Women Men Women Men Women

Area:

1 _____ ____________________ 1 1 3 3 2 2 4 4

2. _................................................. 2 4 1 2 3 1 4 3

3 ..______ _____ ____________ 2 1 1 3 3 2 4 4

4__________________________ 1 3 2 2 3 1 4 4

5__________________________ 1 3 2 1 3 2 4 4

6__________________________ 1 2 4 1 2 1 3 3

7__________________________ 2 2 1 3 3 1 3 3

8__________________________ 1 3 1 1 2 2 3 4

9__________________ ________ 1 3 2 2 3 1 4 4

National____________ ______ . 1 3 1

! » 1 4 4

I 3 1

Note.—Charts VIII a nd IX vary from percentages to show the order of interest of those organizations 

which use older persons for voluntary service and the reason factors th at lim it th at service.

Senator Randolph. For the record I would like to indicate tha t 

the subcommittee will continue on January 10 to hold hearings in 

Los Angeles and on the 13th with hearings in San Francisco. These 

are areas in which there is a very high percentage of the older class of 

our population.

To our guests who have been here, I ’d like to say thank you all 

for counseling with us today. We want to say tha t the subcommittee 

believes tha t this matter, as I indicated in my prepared opening 

statement, is one th at is of interest and tha t we will hope to indicate 

action to be taken to make available additional part-time opportunities 

for these deserving Americans.

We do not want our hearings to be just hearings. We want to bring 

from the hearings recommendations and move forward with appropriate action. Thank you very much.

(Whereupon, at 11:45 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned, subject to call.)

o