Author

Thomas Wiest

CEO, Aspirience Home Care

Mower County is taking steps to plan for the “senior age wave” that is hitting not just this area, not just this country, but the entire world.

With Mower County having the largest concentration of seniors per capita in the state, local experts on the topic spoke about the effects of the growing senior population on Thursday at a Senior Summit seminar at the Mower County Senior Citizen Center.

LaRhae Knatterud from the Minnesota Department of Human Services talked about how individuals, communities and businesses can plan to accommodate “the demographic tidal wave.”

According to Knatterud, the senior population will have a greater effect on institutions and businesses than any previous generation of seniors because of its size and spending power.

In contrast, as the work force ages, labor shortages increase. By 2030, a 21 percent decline in younger workers is expected.

State Demographer Tom Gillaspy said employers have five options in a tight labor market situation: downsizing, retaining existing older workers, increasing productivity, importing labor and exporting jobs.

“The businesses that are trying to move into the next economy will be the ones that succeed,” said Gillaspy.

One of the concerns is that schools soon will be losing experienced teachers, said Gillaspy. “Nearly half of all librarians in Minnesota will be eligible to retire next year,” he said.

By 2030, 1.3 million Minnesotans will be 65 years old and older. “At that time, we’re really going to be challenged with our long-term care system,” said Knatterud.

With 534,000 of Minnesota’s baby boomers not having adequate retirement income, many are at a high risk of ending up on the state Medicaid program. By 2050, that could cost the state $20 billion in Medicaid alone.

According to Gillaspy, Minnesota has the best health access and outcomes in the nation. Worldwide, the United States has some of the worst and most expensive health care.

It’s important to know, Aspirience Home Care is poised for your future.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 6:07 am and is filed under Home Care, Aging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.