Retiring boomers complicate U.S. job-skills gap, poll finds

Concerns about the nation's widening job-skills gap have captured the attention of AARP and corporate human resource executives.

In a poll released Monday, AARP and the Society for Human Resource Management found that 72 percent of HR professionals they surveyed identified the pending retirements of baby boomers as a problem that their organizations hope to address.

To understand the issue, consider that a Pew Research Center report indicates that 10,000 baby boomers will reach age 65 every day for the next 20 years. Many are expected to retire or curtail their workloads as they qualify for government-paid health benefits under Medicare.

Concerned HR managers said they are preparing for the exodus by:

-- Increasing training and cross training of younger workers (45 percent of respondents).

-- Developing succession planning (38 percent).

-- Hiring retired employees as consultants and temporary workers to retain their expertise (30 percent).

-- Offering flexible work arrangements (27 percent).

-- Designing part-time positions to attract older workers (24 percent).

According to the poll, more than half the HR managers said their older workers have "stronger writing, grammar and spelling skills" than younger workers and they exhibit a stronger professionalism and work ethic.

(Contact Dee DePass at ddepass(at)startribune.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

Editors: This story is for print use only. Must credit Minneapolis Star Tribune