Aging Worker Initiative

Good news for workers over age 55 in Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin! On August 6,

2009, the US Department of Labor announced $10 million in new funding to help older workers update their job skills in what the department calls "high demand industries".

When I saw that headline I thought: Wow, that's perfect. Fund some training centers where older workers can go and catch up on all the technology skills that have become necessary in the workplace.

You can see a complete list of participating agencies and their plan for using the money on page 2 of this web site document:
http://www.doleta.gov/pdf/AWI_One_Pagers_Fact_Sheet.pdf

As I look over the initiatives outlined by each receiving agency, a common thread appears. There is an awful lot of "develop programs" "study needs" "establish worker resource centers" and "create employer resource material". Here's a quote from one grantee's proposal:

"The Vermont Older Worker Demonstration will establish a statewide model coordinating “innovation assets”: people, institutions, capital, and infrastructure. It will synchronize existing training resources and create new opportunities for older workers who are disadvantaged, unemployed, incumbent workers, and retired to increase their workforce participation and technology efficiency."

I don't see anything here about actually training anyone. Each agency is receiving 1 million dollars, plus additional monies from private groups yet the most ambitious program sites a goal to have a whopping 270 older workers participate in their program and enter employment. 270 people! That's almost $4000 in grant money spent per person. There's no measurable outcome listed for the participants, no actual improvement in skills or employement prospects to be demonstrated.

The majority of the stated goals are about increasing awareness, expand skill-developement opportunities, or advocate for older workers. Not a whole lot of actual, useful, providing of skill training going on here.

The point is not to beat up on government programs. This a fairly typical example of how our tax dollars are spent and this is not a political blog anyway, so I won't belabor the pros and cons of entitlement programs. The point is this: waiting for Uncle Sam to pony up and help, when all is said and done, is not going to help us on an individual basis. You have to go out and find the training you need and put in the time and effort to benefit from that training.

Sometimes that is not as easy as it sounds. The more I dig through the internet looking for help with computer skills, the more I realize everyone seems to assume you have a certain level of understanding and knowledge already. They throw around terms like: "select with your mouse" or "hit enter", assuming everyone knows what those words refer to.

I'm going to try and not assume anything. The goal of this blog is to contribute some very simple, basic computer instruction that takes the time to explain even the most common terms. In the days to come there will also be a new resource available, a library of computer training tutorials, all on easy-to-access videos, that will cover the basics of computer use.

I'll post straightforward, uncomplicated how to instructions here. In the meantime, if you have specific questions, feel free to post a comment. I might even create a video tutorial just for you!