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Home > Economic Research > New England Public Policy Center > NEPPC Conferences and Events

Employing the Region’s Assets:
Baby Boomers Meeting New England’s Skilled Workforce Needs

The New England Public Policy Center's 4th Annual Conference
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Morris Auditorium
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Current demographic trends in New England point to a potential shortage of skilled labor as the Baby Boomers begin to retire over the next few years and the region's working age population begins to shrink. With current benefits and workplace policies that nudge older workers in the direction of retirement, older workers are one of the largest untapped human capital resources in the region.

The New England Public Policy Center’s 4th annual conference explored the role that older professionals can play in meeting the region’s labor force needs over the next 20 to 30 years. The conference featured presentations that investigated the changing demographic and labor force trends in New England and the US and examined what employers, employees, and the public sector could do to lengthen the labor force participation of the population age 55 and older.

Presentations from the conference are now available; please click on the presentation title in the agenda below to access individual presentations.

Attendee Survey Results pdf
A summary of survey responses from 82 conference attendees.

We are pleased to release the conference report that summarizes the proceedings of the event:

NEPPC CR No. 08-1 (May 2009)
Employing the Region's Assets: Baby Boomers Meeting New England's Skilled Workforce Needs pdf
by Heather Brome, senior policy analyst and Sandra Hackman, editor

Agenda & Presentations
updated December 8, 2008

Overview: Is there a potential labor shortage on the horizon?

8:30 am – 8:45 am

Welcome and opening remarks
Lynn Browne, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

8:45 am – 9:15 am Overview of changing trends in skilled labor force and work behavior of older workers
Eugene Steuerle, Peterson Foundation
Copy of Dr. Steuerle's remarks
9:15 am – 9:30 am Commentary with a focus on New England
Andrew Sum, Northeastern University
9:30 am – 9:50 am Facilitated Q & A
9:50 am – 10:15 am Break for networking; coffee in New England Economic Adventure

 

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What are the potential challenges to lengthening the labor supply of older workers?

10:15 am – 10:45 am

Challenges individuals face to working longer  
Barbara Bovbjerg, GAO

10:45 am11:15 am Challenges employers face in hiring and retaining older workers
Steven Sass, Boston College
11:15 am – 11:45 am Facilitated questions for both presenters

 

Practitioner panel discussion and open questions

11:45 am – 12:30 pm

Practitioner panel discussion
Moderator: Jim McCaffrey, Mercer Human Resources Consulting

12:30 pm – 12:50 pm Facilitated questions for panelists and presenters
12:50 pm – 1:00 pm Closing remarks by panel moderator
1:00 pm Boxed lunch in New England Economic Adventure

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Resources on Aging Workers

Conference Speaker Bios

Related Links

Registration

Directions to the Boston Fed

Nearby Hotels

 

X C. Eugene Steuerle
Vice-President of Peter G. Peterson Foundation
Gene is a nationally renowned expert on retirement issues. He has worked with Income and Benefits Policy Center staff on projects involving long-term projections of current and alternative retirement income policies. Gene co-edited Social Security and the Family. Gene is also an authority on the development and use of different types of policy models. He created an actuarial model that formed the basis of Retooling Social Security for the Twenty-First Century.

Among his previous positions, Gene has served as Senior Fellow of the Urban Institute, co-director of its Tax Policy Center, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Analysis, President of the National Tax Association, and chair of the 1999 Technical Panel advising Social Security on its methods and assumptions. From 1984 to 1986, he worked as the organizer and economic coordinator of the Treasury Department's tax reform effort.

Gene is also the author, co-editor, or editor of 15 books and hundreds of articles and Congressional testimonies, as well as a prolific columnist who has written for Tax Notes and the Financial Times. Among other honors, he received the first Bruce Davie-Albert Davis Public Service Award from the National Tax Association in 2005. Gene has a PhD in economics with a distinction in public finance from the University Wisconsin at Madison.

X Barbara Bovbjerg
Director for Education, Workforce and Income Security Issues, Government Accountability Office

In her role as Director for Education, Workforce, and Income Security at the GAO, Barbara Bovbjerg oversees evaluative studies on aging and retirement income policy issues, including Social Security and public and private pension programs. Previously, Ms. Bovbjerg was Assistant Director for Budget Issues at GAO.

Ms. Bovbjerg holds a Masters in Public Policy from Cornell University and a B.A. from Oberlin College.

X Steven Sass
Associate Director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

Dr. Sass is currently the associate director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. He was previously an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston where he was also the editor of The Regional Review.

He has written a history of the U.S. private pension institution, The Promise of Private Pensions (Harvard, 1997) and is coauthor, with Alicia Munnell, of Reforming the National Retirement Income System (Upjohn, 2006) and Working Longer: The Solution to the Retirement Income Challenge.

Dr. Sass earned a B.A. from the University of Delaware and his Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University.

X James McCaffrey
Worldwide Partner, Mercer

Jim McCaffrey serves as both Market Leader for Mercer’s New England offices and as Leader for the firm’s Northeast Operating Zone. He has previously served as Practice Leader for the Retirement and Client Management practices in the Northeast and in these roles he served on the National leadership teams for each of these practices. Over the past 30 years, Jim has consulted with a broad range of clients on benefits and compensation issues – helping them develop and implement total rewards strategies. His clients have included organizations such as State Street, Textron, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA, Caritas Christi Health System, Raytheon, John Hancock and The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc.

He currently serves as a Board member of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the New England Council and the Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart. He is also Town Moderator of the Town of Millis, Massachusetts, where he previously served two terms as a member of the Board of Selectmen.

Jim has a bachelor’s degree in history from Georgetown University and J.D. degree from Boston University. He is a member of the bar of the State of New York, the bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the American Bar Association. Prior to joining Mercer he served as assistant corporation counsel for the City of New York.

 
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