A Letter on Older Workers

From the American Workforce Coalition

On behalf of America’s low-income older workers, the members of the American Workforce Coalition want to thank the policymakers, employers, and workforce development professionals who continue to support the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) administrated by the U.S. Department of Labor.

SCSEP is the only federal job training program focused exclusively on helping older Americans return to the workforce and, thus, is a vital foundation of services available for a segment of America’s workers as they age. Each year, this program serves nearly 60,000 older workers from every state and nearly all U.S. counties, helping some of the hardest to employ due to ageism, skill deficits, and other barriers to employment, develop new skills and add relevant work experiences through SCSEP community training assignments at aging and other local programs. SCSEP prioritizes employment service to Veterans, individuals with disabilities, and other most-in-need older adults who have low job prospects and significant barriers to employment, such as homelessness.

The program meets its mandated dual purpose of fostering economic self-sufficiency through paid training and promoting employment by placing about one in every two participants into unsubsidized jobs. The program also represents a strong return on investment as SCSEP participants who exit for employment earn more in their first year than the annual SCSEP training costs and 7 in 10 remain on the job more than one year after leaving the program. In addition, SCSEP helps to address long-term joblessness of older adults, who often struggle for nearly a year to find jobs after becoming unemployed. SCSEP is a pathway back to the workforce, and their temporary community service jobs play a vital role in training these jobseekers to continue to support themselves and contribute to our nation’s economic development and recovery.

Within the next 3 years, older workers will constitute 25% of our national workforce. The Senior Community Service Employment Program will be a much-needed pathway for more and more older job seekers.

Sincerely,

The American Workforce Coalition