AARP Arkansas and Governor Huckabee Hold Workforce Initiative Regional Meetings
Source: AARP.org | 2006-11-07 00:00:00-05:00
Governor Mike Huckabee and AARP Arkansas announced the Arkansas Mature Workforce Initiative this year. The governor explained the need for the experienced mature worker to re-enter the workforce after retirement. Maria Reynolds-Diaz, state director of AARP Arkansas, used fictional storytelling to paint a vivid picture of health and transportation industries of the future without the mature worker.
The labor force in Arkansas and across the country will experience a shortage of qualified workers as the Baby Boomers begin to retire. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2004 and 2012 up to 43% of the current workforce will be eligible to retire in the next 10 years. Two following generations are 15% smaller, each. Also, 61% of entrants (age 16 to 25) to the workforce are not fully qualified.
AARP hopes to increase the awareness and appreciation of mature workers by developing relationships with the public workforce system, states, chambers of commerce, national and local training providers, trade associations, labor unions, community organizations, policy makers and business leaders. Through collaboration with these groups and individuals, a series of regional workforce meetings for employers interested in hiring mature workers were held from April - October, 2006.
Mature Workforce Regional Meetings were held in:
Little Rock
Hot Springs
Fort Smith
Springdale
Mountain Home
Monticello
El Dorado
East - Northeast Ark
At the regional meetings, first hand experiences employing mature workers were shared by a panel of employers including AARP Featured Employers, such as Walgreen's and Manpower talk with business people in the audience.
The audience was broad-based, including vice-presidents, human resource managers, Workforce Center managers, economic development managers and business owners. Sandra Winston, Executive Director of the Workforce Investment Board, Artee Williams is Chair of the Taskforce and Susan Kuehner, ASD Community Outreach, is the chair for the regional meetings to be held across the state.
In Arkansas, we are proud to have 15 AARP Featured Employers that are actively recruiting and retaining workers 50+.
They include: The Home Depot, Adecco, Allied Barton, Borders Group, Cendant Car Rental Group - Avis/Budget, Cingular Wireless, Comcast Cable, CVS/pharmacy, Express Personnel Services, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Kelly Services Inc., Manpower Inc., MetLife Inc., New York Life Insurance Co., News America Marketing, Quest Diagnostics, Pitney Bowes Inc., Principal Financial Group, Right at Home, Schneider National Inc., SunTrust Banks Inc., Universal Health Services, Verizon and Walgreens.
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