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Employment and Training: Most One-Stop Career Centers Are Taking Multiple Actions to Link Employers and Older Workers

GAO-08-548 Published: Apr 21, 2008. Publicly Released: Apr 21, 2008.
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Highlights

The share of older persons in the U.S. population age 55 and older is projected to increase to 30 percent by 2025 and continue to grow through 2050. At the same time, more older persons are expected to continue working than in the past and, in doing so, may need employment and training services as they make transitions to different jobs and work arrangements. Several factors will contribute to this phenomenon. The number of older Americans and their proportion of the total population are increasing and are expected to continue to increase. Fewer of these older Americans are expected to have the traditional retirements of previous generations and many will continue working for financial or other reasons. At the same time, labor force growth is expected to slow and employers will be faced with a relatively smaller and younger available workforce. As a result, some businesses will need to retain existing older workers or attract additional older workers to meet their workforce needs. The Department of Labor (Labor) has identified one-stop career centers (one-stops) as a means to link older workers with employers through employment and training services. To address the role of one-stops in serving older workers, we examined: (1) Labor's actions to help one-stops link employers and older workers and (2) one-stops' actions to help employers hire and retain older workers.

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Career planningEmployee developmentEmployee retentionEmployee trainingEmployeesEmploymentEmployment agenciesEmployment assistance programsHuman capital managementHuman capital planningLabor forceLabor shortagesOlder workersPerformance appraisalPerformance measuresProgram evaluationReemploymentRetirementSkilled laborSurveysTraining utilization