 You have just seen a fine and decent citizen doing penance for his sins. His sins are many. He is over 50 years old, but with years to go before social security. Item. He is unemployed through no fault of his own. Item. The skills which gave him work for the past 30 years are now out of date. He is, in short, broke, out of work, and desperate. Multiply him by the millions and millions of other aging workers who will be in our midst by 1970. And you have a problem of national magnitude, the gray ghosts of the great society. Now I got nothing coming until Social Security, and that's 15 years from now. All they want is 22-year-old college graduates. What am I going to tell the kids? What do they think of their old man? Can you imagine anybody at my age going back to school? The problem has been phrased very well by Hobart Rowan, business trends editor of Newsweek magazine, as he puts it, the brutal fact is there is discrimination of sorts going on in American industry today when men are considered to be over the hill at ages which find many of them in their prime, healthy, willing, and able. What good is it for science to have increased the lifespan if it simply means that a human junk pile starts at an earlier age? Under these unhappy conditions, you can go from baccalaureate degree to banishment in a bit over 20 years. There are, of course, wholly sane and justifiable reasons for this rather grim 20th century phenomenon known as the aging worker problem. Very rapid technological changes, a concurrent fast transition to automation that replaces men with machines, the swift progress of knowledge in general to a sophisticated plateau which makes yesterday's education seem old hat and useless, a vital and needed universal concern for the welfare and nurturing of our young people, and in that same category, the well-known population explosion. In fact, one could postulate that we are in the midst of two population explosions. The second one is the constantly growing mass of men and women between the ages of 50 and 60 who have been cast aside and now find themselves in a desperate struggle for survival. In a world they never made, either. We better start worrying about them. For if their problem is left unsolved, it can have a profound and depressing effect upon the entire national economy. It will, in one way or another, touch the pocketbooks and fortunes of every American and could easily hold back that golden dream of a truly great society. So what's to do about it? I put the question to Secretary of Labor, the Honorable W. Willard Wertz. The Department of Labor has been very much concerned for a long time about the problem with the older worker. I suppose this is really for two reasons. One is that we realize that by 1970 there will be about 33 million men and women in this country in the workforce who will be over 45 years of age. And the other thing is that we've realized increasingly that there is a set of myths which has developed which has resulted in what amounts almost to discrimination against the older worker. It's not discrimination with any ugliness in it at all. It's rather a feeling on the part of some employers that there are disadvantages of older workers which we've found do not work out to be true in fact. And it's in an attempt to eliminate these myths to get rid of the misunderstanding that we've initiated a countrywide program to see to it that there is fuller understanding of this situation. The Manpower Act especially provides us a basis for special attention to this problem of the older worker and under the Manpower Act we've been conducting experiments programs of one kind or another providing for special counseling and then for special retraining programs for the older worker and we've found among other things. First a complete willingness on the part of the worker over 45 to participate in retraining projects. Second an ability to make good use of retraining and of a lifetime of experience. And third and very importantly a willingness of the older worker to move where that's necessary to a job in a different place hard as that may be. And in connection with these experimental and demonstration programs one of the most worthwhile has been the program that we've worked out with the National Council on Aging. Well the program has been underway now for some time Mr. Secretary are you satisfied with the results so far? Satisfied that we've made a good beginning. We know a good deal more about it than we did before. We know that among other things one of the most important elements as far as the providing a full opportunity for older workers is concerned is that the attitude in the community be one of complete acceptance of this whole potential as far as that community and as far as the individual worker is concerned. Yes we know more now than we did before. We know that through the project which the National Council on the Aging has initiated what has been done in some seven cities can be made use of now in other cities around the country. We've made a good start. In fact I wish every American could know what already has been done in this area. I wish every American could realize all that still needs to be done. Thank you Mr. Secretary now let's take a look at the seven cities Secretary Words mentioned Baltimore Cleveland Boston Asheville Milwaukee Lansing and South Bend. In each area it was necessary to obtain the cooperation of a local sponsoring organization usually one that was already aware of the older worker problem. Let's start in Baltimore. The sponsoring group is the Health and Welfare Council and Mr. William Springer is the project director. This project covers the Baltimore metropolitan area in just a few months. The project has developed more than 600 jobs which are considered appropriate for older workers who lack definite skills or formal education. We have found that employers in the Baltimore area are very receptive to hiring older workers through this project. This is Mrs. James unemployed because of her age for over a year. Through the Baltimore project she was retrained for work in the Maryland General Hospital. Now instead of being alone she's filling a needed role needed by the hospital and useful once more to herself. But everywhere did I apply for a job everybody told me I was too old so I got in touch with their old workers' projects and they sent me on to give me a job. And two days a week and the job helps out fine. And now I'm doing finding my home and I'm getting along fine. In Cleveland work is being conducted under the auspices of the Cleveland Welfare Federation. Mrs. Everett Randall director tells about it. Among other things Cleveland's 50 plus program is concerned with pulling together and using all the services and resources of the community to help these jobless older men find work before they become so depressed that they lose their motivation for work. When you've worked for 35 years being without a job month after month can really make you feel useless, helpless, just good for nothing. Therefore we're trying to reach these older unemployed men early and provide them the services that they need then in order they won't settle into a routine of unemployment and hopelessness. One touching example of what Mrs. Randall mentioned comes from the case files of Cleveland's vocational guidance and rehabilitation services. We asked the gentleman in question and his sister to tell about it in their own words. The plant where I worked all my life moved out of town and well here I was 55 never been out of work a day in my life and well I tell you that my age that was really something that I looked for almost a year and couldn't find any steady work. He got awful depressed, wouldn't talk to nobody, just wanted to sit and think or sleep then the card come about 50 plus and we finally got him to go see the counselor. The counselor talked to this man, repaired his morale, helped him get the glasses he needed and rolled him in a training course, helped him find a job in which he could use his new skills. Good luck. In the third city, Milwaukee, the approach is somewhat different. Consider the case of this 59-year-old man. He has only a fourth grade education and lives alone. He is rated in the lowest one-tenth of one percent intellectually. Yet here is a man who shapes up today as a calm, stable and responsible person. He is agreeable, adaptable and quite proud. He is willing to work hard at anything within his limited capability. Still, where do you place someone of his age and his background? It is to find the answers to such problems that the Milwaukee Project lays heavy accent on psychological evaluation before placement. In Boston, we started at the other end of the scale. Here at the John F. Kennedy Family Service Center, sponsoring organization of the NCOA Project in Boston, interviewers talk to Mr. A., Mr. B. and Mr. C. Mr. A. is 61 years old. He is a former vice president of a substantial mail order catalog business, earning around $22,000 a year. Forced out of business by competition in 1961, he has not been able to find work except as a retail salesman at around $47 a week take-home pay. His only handicap is his age. This, by any method of measurement, is a case of conspicuous waste. Mr. B. is a college man, one-time sales manager of a large New Jersey firm who earned around $10,000 a year. Since 1964, he has been unemployed and unable to find a job of any kind. His only fault is he is 55 years old. Mr. C. has a bachelor of philosophy degree and a bachelor of law's degree. For 27 years, he was an outstanding industrial engineer, an active civic worker, a lecturer on effective speech. Then the company for which he worked transferred its headquarters to the West Coast. For nearly two years now, Mr. C. has been out of work. Why? Because he is 62 years young. Are those cases unique? Here is Dr. Paul Crudden at the John F. Kennedy Center. At first, we thought these cases were unusual, but as time went on, we found that they were not uncommon. Many well-qualified, able, intelligent, well-educated people with rich work experience have been walking the streets for months seeking a job. Many of these people are too well-qualified, and employers are reluctant to insert them into their organizations over people who have been with them for a number of years. Our usual approach to this problem of trying to sell an individual to another has not worked out. We are sending out 50 letters in cooperation with the Department of Employment Security to presidents of concerns in this area. We await the results very hopefully. If you've ever been in and around Asheville, North Carolina, you know that this is a place of startling contrasts, a prosperous city with a large proportion of well-fixed, retired people surrounded by a countryside that is stunningly beautiful, and populated by hill folk who have a long history of economic depression and unemployment, but those same proud and wonderful hill people have for generations created all kinds of superbly crafted articles which are unique and unusual and highly prized by collectors of Americana. So here in Asheville, people are concerned with integrating all these factors into a program that will meet the serious problem of unemployed older workers. New techniques and approaches are being developed here, not only looking to the motivation and placement of older workers in year-round jobs, but also striving to find jobs in which advancing age is an asset rather than a liability. Things which capitalize on the traditional craftsmanship which is the hallmark of the hill people in these parts and promote the marketing of their creations. These then are some of the aspects of the problem and some of the probing that has been done, the possibility of training for hospital and nursing homework in Baltimore, counseling in Cleveland, psychological testing in Milwaukee, men with higher skills in Boston, rural aspect in Asheville. All these looking for ways in which the community can meet this growing problem. But of all of the areas of activity concerned with the national project, none has been more dramatic, none more illuminating, and none more significant than the one in South Bend, Indiana. Indeed the amazing bootstrap operation which took place here has received so much national publicity already that virtually everyone is familiar with it. But to recapitulate it all briefly, this is what happened. In 1963, Studebaker shut down and transferred all its activities to Canada. Included in the unemployed were some 3,000 people over 50 years of age who had about 2,000 dependents under 19 years old. Most of them had no source of income except work. Many of them had lost their pension rights as a result of the sudden shutdown. Out of this catastrophic situation was born the first of the NCOA demonstration project. Project ABLE. A-B-L-E. Ability based on long experience. A remarkable example of how total community cooperation can bring about miracles of accomplishment. In a mere nine days, this crash program to find employment for older workers was running full speed. Everybody was urged and pressured to get into the act and did a total community involvement. Almost immediately workers were being placed in new jobs. Others were being counseled by worker advisors, non-professionals with an intimate knowledge of their fellow men's problems and fears. Still others were being given tests and training calculated to launch them into new skills. Most important of all, perhaps, other industries in and around South Bend were being conditioned to recognize the many merits in hiring older workers. A new climate of understanding and appreciation was being created. It was becoming fashionable to consider older workers as valuable assets worthy of hire. The results are a matter of record. As I make this report to you, South Bend has become an area of labor shortage. A few months ago, 589 out of the 4,079 unemployed older people still needed jobs and were available for work. Today that number is down and hopefully in the very near future all of those needing work will have jobs. It was indeed a history-making project during which Project Able established a number of guidelines for other cities that may be faced with a similar problem. Here are some of those Studebaker workers talking with the people who helped make Project Able such a success. I began seeking employment but was refused at many places because of my age. Having known that Project Able was beginning its operations, I stopped in and was granted an interview and a chance to show my qualifications and my experience. As a result of this, I did secure a job. I took a run around to see a few of the local manufacturing outfits and found out they were reluctant to hire a man over 50. So I had heard about Project Able and I registered with them and about four days later why they called me and said they had a job with the Baker Manufacturing Company. After taking the test, they told me I should take this architectural drafting which I've taken and start to be on a new career because before I even finished up, I was placed with the city engineering department of South Bend, Indiana. Of course it takes an employer as well as an employee to make a job. One of those employers in South Bend was Mr. Wolfe, president of the Gardex Company. When some time ago, we here at Gardex were asked to hire some people 50 years and older, we were a little skeptical. We had certain reservations but we tried a few on anyway and soon found out to our great surprise that they were very good people to work with. As matter of fact, we have been so pleased with them that we have hired by now over 50 of them and I will say this that we only hire them on their merits and nothing else. We can say this that we would hire more as we need more and for these reasons. First they are very dependable. Secondly, we have less absenteeism with them and thirdly, quite a bit less turnover. It is really a pleasure to recommend people 50 years and older who still want to work and have the ability and capability to do so. Project Able proved many things. It also tested and developed innumerable new techniques for coping with the complex problems of massive older worker unemployment. But more than anything else perhaps, it showed the way any other city can go beginning right now to marshal its resources for the very important fight against our growing national problem and a big problem it is. No one was more than the executive director of the National Council on the Aging, Mrs. Geneva Matheson. Older workers who lose their jobs can learn new skills. They can get new and often challenging employment. You have seen the proof, but it is not easy. The older worker himself must have or be helped to develop a faith in his own future and the courage to pursue it. The employment office must counsel both workers and employers and bring them together and all of us must come to see that ability is ageless. A lot of people are going to have to learn to work together and none of this is easy. But the alternative is unthinkable. No American community can afford to have men and women able-bodied in their 50s and early 60s, anxious, willing and needing to work, live out their lives in idleness and drift into dependency. Obviously there are no easy solutions to the problem of the older unemployed worker. Their seldom are, but it's a problem we have to face as a matter of economics and as a matter of plain social conscience. As President Lyndon B. Johnson has said speaking of the older workers, what we do for them today will enrich our own lives tomorrow and I think will enrich the lives of our children in the decades to come. I know of nothing more necessary or desirable. This is one of the hardcore problems our nation faces as we move forward toward the 21st century. The problem of people of middle years and older too young to retire with many productive years ahead of them, the innocent victims of what is sometimes called progress. What the National Council on the Aging is finding out in these communities we have visited and elsewhere is that progress, advancing technology, plant relocation, the demand for new skills and all the rest of it need not be paid for in human currency. It doesn't have to cost the spirit and happiness of able and productive people. This is not their problem. It is our problem to find out what's needed to educate the community, to restore hope to the discouraged, to open up training opportunities and provide support in periods of transition, mobilize for action and to get action. Americans, all Americans, have a right to be self-supporting, a right to use their talents, their skills and their experience to maintain themselves in dignity, independence and self-respect. And each of us has a duty to make that right a meaningful reality. Thank you.