Mercer Human Resource Consulting is the lead company sponsoring this Initiative which is operating working group sessions around the region to develop strategies on this issue. James McCaffrey, Mercerr’s New England Market Leader and member of the Council’s Board of Directors, is chairing the Initiative. He said the issue, at its core, will likely result in public policy changes to the nation’

““We believe that New England is at a critical juncture. The aging population creates important challenges and significant opportunities for developing strategies to respond to these inevitable workforce changes. We need to develop specific proposals to encourage the active engagement of older workers in the employment market,” McCaffrey said. “Retirement regulations – both on a state and federal level – often actually encourage workers to retire early and not return to the workforce. In New England, we could find a significant gap of available employees and skilled worker shortages that ultimately will hinder our ability to add jobs and grow.”

Paul Harrington, Associate Director of Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies, said the findings in Maine are particularly striking.

“All of the growth in the Maine labor force over the next decade will come from those aged 55 and older,” Harrington said. “Unless the aging population is replaced by increasing numbers of younger workers or the labor force attachment of older workers increases sharply, the graying of the labor force will result in labor shortages and hamper economic growth.”

Some of the report highlights:

- Maine has a larger and more sharply growing share of the older population (age 55 and older). The proportion of the state’s population that is 55 years or older has increased from 19 percent in 1950, to 24 percent in 2000, and 27 percent in 2005.

- In 2015, one in three Maine residents are projected to be 55 years or older and by 2030, older persons will comprise 39 percent of all the residents of Maine.

- The older population is projected to be the source of all population growth in Maine during the 30 years between 2000 and 2030.

- Maine’s population is getting older at a higher rate than the nation. In 2005, the median age of Maine residents was 41, compared to the median age of 36 for the rest of the country. In Maine, the median age is projected to be 43 in 2015 and 47 in 2030.

- At the same time, the state has seen a sharp decline in birth rate. Between 1990 and 2004, the birth rate in Maine declined by 25 percent, compared to a 15.8 percent decline in the rest of the nation.

- While teens and young adults in Maine are more likely to participate in the labor market than their counterparts in the region and in the nation, the rate of labor force participation among those aged 55 and above is below that of the nation as a whole.

As part of this Initiative, business leaders will meet with public officials in Portland Wednesday to discuss a variety of issues including: pension policies that limit workers’ ability to mix work and retirement income, workforce development programs that do not serve older workers, and the need for the workplace to accommodate an older workforce.

The Council plans to host meetings around the region in the coming months, examining the status of older workers in each state and engage public and private leaders in discussion of the issues.

The New England Council, founded in 1925, is an alliance of large and small companies, colleges and universities, nonprofit and other agencies, dedicated to promoting economic development and a high quality of life in the six-state region.

Mercer Human Resource Consulting is a global leader for HR and related financial advice and services, with more than 15,000 employees serving clients in more than 190 cities and 40 countries and territories worldwide. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., which lists its stock (ticker symbol: MMC) on the New York, Chicago, Pacific and London stock exchanges.