Worker Shortage Down the Road

Has the jobs situation got you down? Just wait another six years. By 2010, the U.S. will have 8 million more jobs than there are workers to do them, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) forecasts. Of course, that's cold comfort to anyone who's out of work, or even to someone who's working but desperately needs a change. But it should be of some balm to older workers -- the very group that tended to get short shrift in the dot-com boom -- says business researcher Bob Morison, an executive vice-president with Concours Group, a research, education, and management-consulting firm in Kingwood, Tex.

Companies will need to do a better job of reaching out to mature workers if they want to stay competitive, Morison argues in "It's Time to Retire Retirement," a piece he co-wrote for the March issue of the Harvard Business Review. As the article's title suggests, one of the changes Morison and his colleagues foresee is that companies will have to stop nudging employees out the door when they turn 65.

Here to read more.