How will the retirement of the baby boom generation affect the workplace over the next seven years? Will the U.S. experience a worker shortage, or will there instead be a skills shortage and increased unemployment as organizations offshore jobs in search of cheaper skilled labor? The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) attempts to shed some light on these issues in its new 2005 Future of the U.S. Labor Pool Survey Report.
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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the overall labor force will grow by 12 percent by 2012. However, the percentage of workers aged 55 and older will increase by 49.3 percent. As many baby boomers retire, human resource (HR) professionals will need to determine how to best fill that void.
« While it’s difficult to project the status of the job market seven years down the road, we can see clearly the challenges to the workplace, » said SHRM President and CEO Susan R. Meisinger, SPHR. « We know there will be millions of baby boomers retiring and that some workers now entering the workforce lack core competencies. These are serious HR and workforce issues that could undermine the nation’s global competitiveness. And HR must determine how to meet these challenges. »
Many HR professionals, in both the private and public sectors, are only now becoming aware of the potential labor shortage or are just beginning to examine their organization’s management structures to determine how they will be affected. Just over half provide continuous skills training for incumbent workers or are researching and modifying pay scales to remain competitive. Nearly all respondents indicated that their organizations have no plans to move, however, 17 percent have outsourced or offshored jobs, with another 17 percent planning to do so in the near future.
However, many HR professionals question whether there really will be a labor shortage. Only a quarter believe that the flood of retiring baby boomers will be a problem to their organizations, and 43 percent believe that it has the potential to become a problem. Other HR professionals see the lack of core competencies from employees now entering the workforce as a key challenge to the future of the workforce. About half of respondents said they are seeing new workers entering the workforce lacking overall professionalism, written communication skills, analytical skills or business knowledge.
A lack of core competencies poses a serious challenge to HR professionals because this issue is closely tied to public and higher education, and HR may be constrained in its ability to address the problem. Its repercussions, however, could be among the most severe to the future of the U.S. labor pool.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 200,000 individual members, the Society’s mission is to serve the needs of HR professionals by providing the most essential and comprehensive resources available. As an influential voice, the Society’s mission is also to advance the human resource profession to ensure that HR is recognized as an essential partner in developing and executing organizational strategy. Founded in 1948, SHRM currently has more than 500 affiliated chapters and members in more than 100 countries. Visit SHRM Online at http://www.shrm.org.
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