News For The "Experienced" Job Seeker ......

• More workers will stay in the workforce beyond the age of 55 -- A larger portion of the country's workforce will be over the age of 55 in future. That projection is the result of a new report by Miami University's Scripps Gerontology Center.  For example, Ohio's proportion of older workers is expected to grow from 16.7% in 2006 to 22.4% in 2016. Limited savings for retirement and the need to maintain benefits are two factors that will keep older workers on the job.
   
• The Small Business Administration has launched a Web site designed for entrepreneurial baby boomers. The site provides information on borrowing and includes success stories of boomers who have launched their own businesses. For more information go to sba.gov/50plusentrepreneur .

• Older Workers Are Finding New Careers Helping Others -- The most common jobs for people who work after age 65 are in the retail industry. But a recent survey says that baby boomers are changing that stereotype by finding jobs that not only pay the bills but provide personal meaning and have a social impact. Typical fields include education (30 percent), healthcare (23 percent), government (16 percent), nonprofit organizations (13 percent), and for-profit businesses that serve a public good (9 percent). The primary reasons for choosing one of these jobs later in life are to stay active, productive, and challenged, and to keep learning. But workers also cited the need for income and health benefits. Most of the people in such second careers are professionals, managers, and white-collar workers.

• Older workers who lose their jobs have a more difficult time finding new work than do their younger peers. Department of Labor reemployment data from 2006 indicates that 75% of workers between 25 and 54 who lost their jobs had landed new ones within 12 months, versus 61% of workers aged 55 to 64.