More and More Older Coloradans Are Still Working. But Their Jobs Are at Risk

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment says nearly 25 percent of all Coloradans 65 or older are still working, reports Colorado Public Radio . Janine Vanderburg seeks to combat ageism threatening older adults' employment via her Changing the Narrative campaign. Thirty-three percent of Colorado utility workers are older than 55, as are 25 percent of employees in education, agriculture, and transportation. Vanderburg stresses that unsubstantiated generational stereotypes about older workers — ranging from digital incompetence and unwillingness to learn to higher costs and poorer health — jeopardize their job prospects. Changing the Narrative hosts workshops, management training sessions, and other outreach programs as support for senior workers. "We . . . know that deliberately creating multi-generational workplaces is a really effective business practice," Vanderburg notes. "You bring in that accumulated wisdom, that older people have, as well as some of that skill and ability to collaborate that younger people may be bringing to the workplace. If you put them together, it's really good for business."