Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20150831 : v

CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings August 31, 2015

First, we will get underlying improvements in existing tech elegy equal to that has already occurred. All of it has gotten that her. That will happen again. In new we will later advanced automation. The automated ones are far more economically efficient. Were going to add robotics and industrial drones. The third thing is all of this will be optimized with analytics and big data. Uberize the shale industry. Tonight, this summer marks the 25th anniversary of Digital Television the author of tell levisionaries. That has been one of the more exciting things of the digital revolution. There used to be a stationary screen. With hd, that was a big screen in the living room. With the Wireless World extending things, now you have tablets and smartphones and wifi all over the place. Just a stationary experience, its a mobile experience wherever you want to go. Its not just tv, its video. Communicatorsthe on cspan2. Next earlier, the committee on aging held a hearing on retirement. More and more americans are continuing to work later in life. Aarp released a study about half must working or wanting to work into their retirement. Showing this to you right now, this is about one hour and the minutes. This hearing will come to order. Good afternoon. In the iconic 1985 found back to the future, marty and doc go 30 years back in time. They end up in 1955, the middle of the babyboom, where they save the past and then blast off again to an impossibly distant future, the year 2015. That film comes to mind as i think about the changes we are seeing in how seniors approach work and retirement, the topic of todays hearing. For most of the past century, seniors have been withdrawing from the workforce as americans came to view retirement as a time of uninterrupted rest and leisure that could last for decades. By the year 2000, only 32 of americans age 55 and older were still working, and the average age of retirement had dropped to just 63, but the babyboom generation has reversed this trend. Today, 40 of workers 55 and older remain in the workforce, a ratio not seen since the eisenhower administration. The baby boomers are remaining in the workforce longer for many reasons, but one leading reason is the need for Financial Security. Many americans today dont have the resources they need to live comfortably in retirement without working. It used to be said that Retirement Security was a threelegged stool, the first leg being an employerprovided pension, the second Social Security, and the third retirement savings. But with the estimated 7. 7 trillion gap between what americans ages 3264 have saved, and what they were actually need for retirement, that third leg has become wobbly, and a fourth leg continued work has been added to the stool. Experts tell us that the reengagement of seniors in the workforce could not have come at a better time for our economy. According to Human Resources professionals, 40 of the u. S. Employers are struggling to fill jobs with qualified workers and could face a crisis if they lose their Older Workers. Employers dont need these workers just to fill positions. They also need their talent, Institutional Knowledge, and especially their strong work ethic. Compared to younger employees, with all due respect to my staff, workers aged 55 and older are significantly more engaged in their work. In fact, and engaged workforce is so important to the bottom line that a company could improve its profits by 150 million a year if its entire workforce were as engaged as Older Workers, according to the aarp. As we will hear from our Witnesses Today, financial needs are not the only reason that baby boomers want to continue working. They also want to stay active, mentally and physically. Working also helps seniors state socially connected and preserve a strong sense of purpose and selfworth. More than half of this generation who do retire return to the workforce after just a few years. They use the break to catch their breath and retool, sometimes for less stressful work. Because these retirees can rely on Social Security, medicare, and other sources of retirement income, they have the flexibility to pursue work on their own terms. Taking a break from the workforce is not without risks. Seniors may find that their skills have become out of date and that they have lost touch with key contacts and business trends. Some of them face unspoken and misguided bias that is difficult to prove, but widely reported. Whatever the reason, it takes twice as long for a senior to find a new job than it does for a younger person. The job hunt can be especially tough on workers laid off late in their careers. As this generation heads back to the workforce, employers who want to attract and keep Older Workers should recognize that many return to work because they want to, not just because they have two. Have to. These workers are looking for Flexible Workplaces where they can continue to contribute and where their skills will be valued. Our Witnesses Today have a wealth of knowledge. I look forward to their testimony today. I am now very pleased to turn to our Ranking Member for her statement. Senator mccaskill thank you. I want to thank you for holding this hearing. I sad to say from looking at the numbers that it appears to me that most of us on this committee would be deemed Older Workers. The most recent aarp study defines an older worker as over 50. Except for tom cotton. I can see him over there. Hes too young. Hes gloating. Senator mccaskill the most recent aarp study defines an older worker over 50. I reluctantly confessed to meeting that threshold easily. I think our own personal experiences can add expertise to this conversation in terms of our capacity to grow and change over time. Many of us baby boomers are doing with a much different landscape than we are are dealing with a much different landscape here we are a competitive bunch, so i have trouble with this concept that we cannot adapt to stay relevant in todays economy. That aarp study, a Business Case for workers age 50 and above, goes a long way to debunk this myth along with many others. More than nine in 10 workers over 50 have a computer, tablet, or smart phone, and those numbers have been growing significantly in the last three years alone. Fewer than one in five seniors surveyed felt they had trouble keeping up with the technology, so dont tell me that you cant teach an older dog new tricks, and ultimately that Older Workers cost too much. Due to the shifts and our pension systems away from defined benefit, adding a worker over 50 is not that much different to a companys bottom line than adding younger workers, according to the aarp. The fact of the matter is that our workforce is getting older. In under a decade, more than one in three workers will be older than 50. In missouri today, more than one in five workers is 55 and older. Its true, some Older Workers want to stay employed to feel productive and challenged. Many other americans, i hasten to say that i believe the majority of americans are doing so out of necessity. This is a new era of retirement. Few people have that pension check for life, and instead must set aside their own money. Longer life spans means retirement that could last for decades, so it is no wonder that Older Americans are a bit nervous to stop working altogether. The Smart Companies have party figured out that the changing demographic and have developed ways to capitalize on the skills and experience this large group of workers can bring to the table. One of those companies is represented here today, and i dont know if im going to pronounce this right. Is that right . They have for years recognize that it makes no sense to see its best and brightest workers walk out the door at age 55 when most nurses tend to leave the hospital floor. To combat this, they have developed a retirement system that deploys these workers in a variety of roles. Theyve also adjusted their benefits packages of these Older Workers could not be penalized for reducing hours. Today, the program is so successful that it works across demographics. This culture of Flexible Work schedules is good not just for the older worker, but for the reservist, the mother, or any other employee who cannot work a full 40 hour schedule, but still brings ease tension skills to essential skills to the job. Ssm health care offers its own retirement system. Hundreds of employees have taken advantage of this plan. I should also point out that while working longer is a viable option for those seeking to build a retirement, it is not the answer for everyone. We should recognize that some people have spent years working jobs that are so physically demanding that asking them to do any kind of work into their 70s is not realistic. We still need to work to develop strategies for this group of workers, but that should not stop us from exploiting more ways to help Older Workers stay engaged and continue to earn an income if they so choose. With that in mind, i look forward to hearing the testimony from todays panel, and i think all of you for being here. Thank you very much for your testimony. I will confess before this entire room that it was the Ranking Member who convinced me that i had to get an iphone. We are also pleased to be joined by the person who is the youngest member of the senate, is that accurate . It is, but i am old in spirit. First we will hear from our panel. She recently retired from her position as a Strategic Policy advisor for the aarp and is now a consultant specializing working in aging issues. We will then hear from susan, the owner of a specialty Handbag Company located in rural dexter, maine. She will testify that her experience, starting over in a new field and her experience employing an older workforce, and i particularly want to thank her for traveling down from maine to be with us today. Third, we will hear from kerry, an off the, New York Times columnist, and contribute editor for forbes. And finally we welcome james goodwin, the Vice President of Human Resources from the Virginia Health system. Thank you for being with us today. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you, chairman and Ranking Member, for inviting to testify today about the challenges and opportunities involved in prolonging working life. Prolonged employment stands to benefit employers facing labor and skill shortages and the economy. It can also greatly enhance the Retirement Security of workers and their families by increasing Social Security benefits by as much as 8 a year by giving workers more time to save and benefit from a 401 k match, if offered, and by reducing the number of years spent in retirement at unless supplement to income needed for retirement years. Older workers are remaining longer and the workforce. One statistic highlights this point. Among workers 6569, traditionally thought of as retirement age, the participation great has arisen from 18 in 1985 to nearly 32 in 2014, or by over 70 . We cannot credit any single policy or program for hire higher participation rates at older ages. The older population is extremely diverse and response in different ways to different incentives and disincentives. Rising Educational Attainment does seem to be a major determinant accounting for perhaps half of the increase in participation among older men, according to one study. Up to 80 of workers say they expect to work in retirement, and we just heard some of the reasons. They need the money, but they also enjoy what they are doing. They want to remain active. They hope to make a contribution. Yet far fewer workers actually remain in the labor force than say they expect to because of job loss, ill health, and caregiving responsibilities. Others may be unable to find the opportunities that could keep them at work, less demanding jobs, new career options, good parttime jobs, and more Flexible Work schedules, for example. When to retire is a decision over which workers have some control, not total control, but more than they have over the stock market or housing values. Exercising the controlled by working longer is what i think we have been seeing, including during the recent recession when Labor Force Participation rates rose for Older Workers, but fell for younger ones. Employers however have considerable say in what workers can and will do. On the plus side, employers tend to be very positive about Older Workers when it comes to attributes such as loyalty, dependability, customer relationships, and the like. On the minus side, Many Employers harbored negative attitudes about Older Workers costs and technological competence. The new aarp survey just mentioned may alleviate some of those concerns about costs and performance. Moreover, if employers need workers, they will do what is necessary to obtain retain an adequate supply, and that will include drawing upon what is available, older people ready and eager to work. Just what policy initiatives would encourage more employment at older ages and is scalable, costefficient manner, and in a way that does not pay for generations against one another is not so obvious. I offer several suggestions, and there are many others in addition. If i could identify only one this afternoon, it would be to promote older worker Skills Development to ensure that those workers have the qualifications they need to find work, change jobs or careers, or reenter the labor force after retirement. This means more money for the nations Workforce Development system as well as monitoring older worker outcomes under the new workforce opportunity act. In addition, it is also incumbent upon us to promote Lifelong Learning to make sure that tomorrows Older Workers do not face the same barriers that todays workers do. I said just that we might be well served by taking stock of what we know and do not know about what actually fosters longer work life, so that appropriate policies can be crafted to achieve our objectives. I shall conclude an appeal for more funding for the department of labor to how best incentive i Older Workers to work longer, and more employers to hire and retain them. Thank you. Thank you very much for your excellent testimony. Chairman and Ranking Member, distinction member. Thank you for inviting me to testify. I am the owner of a Small Manufacturing Company and maker of handbags. I grew up in rural maine in an agricultural community. Like many of my peers, i left home for college and employment. I settled in the newark city area and build a life with a family in several successful businesses. It had always been my intention to return home to maine. In 2006, my husband and i packed up and headed north, planning to retire. We settled outside of boston. Year later, i saw a display of handbags in the gallery. The bright colors and quirky shapes amended investigation. The facility was in an old barn in the middle of a cornfield in the middle of nowhere. As soon as i walked in, i was hooked, the smell of letter leather, bright roles of fabric, it was mesmerizing. The company had fallen into disrepair and was poorly managed. I knew i can fix it. I bought the company in 2013. Along with the asset purchase, i inherited a group of older women. If i move the company to far, they would be unemployed. One is 64, 69, so i felt an obligation to find a solution that did not leave them behind. We moved one town over to dexter, maine. Warren buffett had improved most of the infrastructure for dexter shoes, so we had reliable electricity and a road for ups trucks to drive on. The equipment needed updating, and the new space gave me the opportunity to design more ergonomic workplace for my workers. Few questions are asked at me, do Older Workers calls more . The answer is Older Workers cost different. I had to take into consideration my Older Workers when purchasing equipment. Many stitching places have machines that require workers to stand at the machine. An older worker has a difficulty with this style of equipment. The equipment i purchased was more caught this costly, but lead to a better product and production time. The second question i get asked is, is it hard to train an older worker . Are they to set in their own ways . The image of an old dog comes to mind and i have to laugh. When did we become all dogs . The answer is, no, its not hard to teach an older person. I have found that an older worker is quick to us in light ideas in part because they have a larger set of experiential Building Blocks on which to pen a new concept. I suspect that an old dog who does not like new tricks was once a young dog that had an aversion to new tricks. To stay mentally active was my primary reason for starting a new career. I recognize the importance of this and created a workplace that is more studio than factory. Each bag is made one at a time by one person. This gives each person a variety of duties and creates ownership and pride in their work. An older

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