The Conference Board of Canada (www.conferenceboard.ca) released a document in 2005,The World and Canada-The Trends Reshaping our Future, that addresses, among other things, a serious problem facing Canada's workforce: a labour shortage.

The report recommends three options to avert this crisis. 1: create more immigration. 2: encourage more births. 3: get employers to understand that they must recruit and retain their mature workforce instead of retiring them. It goes on to explain why options 1 and 2 won't work and why 3 is the only option and why government policy makers and employers need to respond immediately to this recommendation.

About three years ago I read various reports and statistics predicting a labour shortage due to a decrease in births since 1964 and explaining why employers should recruit and retain their mature workers. They will be the ones, the reports said, who will make up the shortage since they are healthier, living longer and want to be productive and continue to earn money. Plus they had all the experience and knowledge required by employers and all the skills required to mentor a younger workforce.

This is what led to the founding of Prime50-the only specialized service of its kind to bring together 50+ job seekers and employers and to provide other career-enhancing services and strategies for both parties. The challenge was to break the myths and false perceptions that employers had toward the 50+ workforce. Today we can see light at the end of the tunnel. Employers are beginning to get it…for more reasons than the impending shortage. They see that the younger workforce tends to change jobs more often and how costly that is. They see the mature worker, on the other hand, brings a lot to the table, in terms of skills and experience and value.

Today, there are thousands of talented, loyal and experienced 50+ job seekers on the Prime50 database-all looking for work and waiting for employers to recognize the value of hiring them. There's not a week goes by that the media, seminars, workshops and conferences don't address the significance and urgency of hiring an aging workforce. Governments, as well, are all looking at what can be done and how to educate employers. For example, HRSDC recently funded the City of London's Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) to produce Experience Works (www.experienceworks.ca), a resource kit for both employers and boomers. This may become a model for other cities and communities trying to get employers to recognize the value of hiring experienced 50+ workers. Prime50 was asked for its thoughts and opinions during LEDC's research process.

On page 24 of its report, the Conference Board of Canada says, "the ageing of the Canadian workforce will create serious pressures in Canadian labour markets, but if we embrace it and adapt to it, we have the potential to make many of our older citizens more productive-enhancing both their incomes and lifestyles."

Prime50 not only believes this but also believes employers will retain a valuable human asset that will provide them with a valuable resource and a valuable contribution to their bottom line.