Human Resources Committee on May 30th, 2013

[Susan Verlinden]

A lot of volunteers are seniors because they have the time to do the volunteering. I think we are the three seniors who work at Calgary Seniors.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

You mentioned, Ms. Williams and Ms. Cooper-Ponte, that they enjoy working there. As well, they feel good about it. Is this the reason the seniors are motivated to work and even to come out as volunteers?

[Susan Verlinden]

Yes. We all enjoy our jobs. We love working for the Calgary Seniors' Resource Society.

Our volunteers really enjoy doing something worthwhile and interacting with other seniors who need a little help. That might mean being taken to medical appointments or doing a grocery shopping program. We also have a visiting program, which a lot of isolated seniors are very grateful for. They love the programs.

[Dianne Cooper-Ponte]

I would add to that. My husband is one of our volunteers; he's 75 years of age. He typically volunteers three or four days a week with the escorted transportation program.

One reason I became a volunteer, and ultimately an employee, is we wanted to keep active. We consider ourselves young seniors. Yes, we're fortunate. We have pension plans from our corporate employment and we could stay home. We could look after the grandchildren. We aren't that interested in travelling because of my aging parents.

We decided we wanted to work with people similar to us and to what our parents went through in their health crises. This way we can give back, and we enjoy it. We don't have to do it, from a financial perspective, but we want to do it. Many of our volunteers feel the same as my husband and I do.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Thank you.

Ms. Verlinden, you mentioned upgrading or taking a course. What course? Was it tough to upgrade your education?

[Susan Verlinden]

I was changing careers. I had been a hairdresser for many years. I worked for my husband, who had a small insurance business. We were married for two years, and unfortunately he passed away and the business was finished, so I found myself unemployed. Then I was sick.

Fortunately, I had a little money I could live on, but I could see that was dwindling, so I decided I had to go. I took a six-week course at the unemployment office. They guide you on how to look for work and what kind of work you want to have. After that finished I went to the one called Prospect Human, which I believe was a two-week course. That is how I ended up getting my job at Calgary Seniors'.

I didn't have to do much upgrading. It was a matter of putting myself out there and finding something I was able to do. As I hadn't been in the corporate world, my skills were a little limited. I had some basic office skills, which I'm continually learning on the job anyway.

It is difficult if you're completely changing careers.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Mrs. Williams.

[Mildred Williams]

I could add a bit.

I noticed yesterday, when glancing at my volunteers, that half of them are seniors. I know that's not being employed, but that's how I got my job in the first place—volunteering with the agency. Then one day my husband asked why I didn't ask if they had a paying job. So I applied, and the timing happened to be right, so I was hired immediately.

I suggest if seniors do some volunteer work, it might lead to a job; it at least would get them out there. At the same time, it might help the people in the Calgary Northeast improve their confidence and possibly their English, and other benefits might come through volunteering.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

All right.

We'll move to Mr. Cleary.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a question for Mr. Roberts, but before I get there, I have a question for the lovely ladies from Calgary.

Mrs. Verlinden, you made a statement at the tail end of what you had to say, which I wrote down. You said it's difficult for seniors who are re-entering the workforce or taking on another job after retirement, particularly if you're changing careers.

Mrs. Williams, in your position as a coordinator of driving for seniors, would you say the seniors you encounter who are working are working because they have to? Are they happy in what they're doing? Do you hear many concerns? Can you give me an overview of what you encounter?

[Mildred Williams]

I don't understand your question because the seniors I deal with are not working.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Oh, they're not working. They're volunteers?

[Mildred Williams]

No, no. Oh, the volunteers are seniors and some of them are working, but the seniors that I deal with who are asking for assistance are not working and they're not able—

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

I'm sorry, the volunteers that you work with who are working, are they working because they have to or because they need to? Are they generally happy to be in the workforce?

[Mildred Williams]

A couple of them are working because they want to. It's their own business and they want to continue in it, even though they're elderly. The others are retired.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

And they're working.

[Mildred Williams]

The senior volunteers are retired.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

They're volunteering their time during their retirement.

It's probably a difficult question to answer, but go ahead.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Thank you very much, Mrs. Williams. I'm going to move on to Mr. Roberts.

Mr. Roberts, in your opening statement you talked about how some seniors are resigned to lower earnings. The words I wrote down were “significant” and “enduring”, in terms of your description of those earnings.

My specific question is, how much lower are the earnings? Do you have stats on that?

[Chris Roberts]

I can certainly provide those to you. I don't have them with me, but they are significant. It's characteristic of those higher-age groups that you'll see that significant fall-off in earnings, in part because high-seniority workers, long-tenured workers have built up a certain scale of compensation in their previous employment.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

I guess they have benefits that carry over from their working life, so they're working for extra cash?

[Chris Roberts]

I would say the dramatic increase in labour force participation and employment rates among older workers is an indication of a number of things. There's greater educational attainment, especially among women—I don't think it's an accident that most of our panel is women—as well as greater opportunities. There is also financial insecurity associated with the long decline in pension coverage, as well as the fact that the age group taking on debt at the fastest rate is older Canadians.

There's a mix of financial insecurity as well as opportunities that are leading to prolonged participation in paid employment.

[Ryan Cleary, NDP, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

You said something interesting then, Mr. Roberts. You spoke about seniors taking on debt at faster levels. Why is that?

[Chris Roberts]

It may be a combination of things. It may be what's happening in the housing market and with mortgage debt, but also with higher levels of consumer debt or faster rates of accumulation of consumer debt, partly in response to the recent crisis we've been through economically and financially.

It's a combination of things, I think, but it's fairly well established that debt levels are rising fastest among those 55 and over.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Komarnicki]

You have approximately 30 seconds if you want to make a quick comment.