WILMA DONAHUE (Ed.). Earning Opportunities for Older Workers. Pp. x, 277, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 1955. $4.50

• Author: Gertrude Bancroft
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625630400147
• Date: 01 March 1956
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Subject Matter: Articles

169

to

cope

with

the

needs&dquo;

of

the

aged.

In

The

States

and

Their

Older

Citizens,

the

Council

provided

a

bill

of

objectives

for

older

people

as

well

as

a

program

for

ac-

tion

in

the

field

of

aging.

The

bill

of

objectives

proposes

equal

op-

portunity

to

work,

adequate

minimum

in-

come,

home

living

or

homelike

institutional

care,

physical

and

mental

health

or

rehabili-

tation,

participation

in

community

activi-

ties,

social

services,

and

the

right

to

free

choice,

self-help,

and

planning

of

their

own

futures.

The

program

for

action

calls

for

the

elimination

of

arbitrary

age

limits

for

em-

ployment

and

establishment

of

programs

of

rehabilitation

and

vocational

training

for

aging

persons;

the

establishment

of

facili-

ties

for

counseling

and

for

early

detection

and

follow-up

of

diseases;

better

screening

of

patients

before

admission

to

mental

hos-

pitals ;

establishment

of

medical

home-care

programs;

state

grants

to

localities

for

con-

struction

of

medically

supervised

nursing

homes;

and

establishment

of

community

centers

where

aged

persons

may

join

in

interesting

and

productive

activities.

There

is

need

of

increased

gerontological

research

and

application

of

its

results

in

public

education

and

professional

training.

DOROTHY

C.

TOMPKINS

University

of

California

Berkeley

WILMA

DONAHUE

(Ed.).

Earning

Oppor-

tunities

for

Older

Workers.

Pp.

x,

277,

Ann

Arbor:

University

of

Michigan

Press.

1955.

$4.50.

This

volume

is

based

largely

on

papers

prepared

for

the

University

of

Michigan

Sixth

Annual

Conference

on

Aging.

Its

stated

aim

is

to

&dquo;examine

the

nature

of

the

barriers

to

continued

employment

or

re-

hiring

of

older

persons,

to

seek

methods

by

which

such

persons

may

be

effectively

uti-

lized

in

the

labor

force

and

to

outline

steps

by

which

voluntary

organizations

and

pub-

lic

agencies,

and

older

people

themselves,

can

create

new

earning

opportunities

for

older

workers.&dquo;

Thirty-three

persons

from

management,

unions,

public

service,

education,

and

medi-

cine

contributed

to

the

conference

and

to

this

publication.

The

volume

opens

and

closes

with

discussions

by

two

especially

distinguished

contributors.

The

first

chap-

ter,

called

&dquo;The

Health

and

Welfare

of

Our

Senior

Citizens&dquo;,

is

by

Oveta

Culp

Hobby,

former

Secretary

of the

United

States

De-

partment

of

Health,

Education,

and

Wel-

fare.

The

closing

chapter,

&dquo;Making

a

Life

and

Making

a

Living&dquo;,

is

by

the

late

Dr.

Martin

Gumpert,

whose

words

will

be

greatly

missed

in

future

studies

of

growing

old.

The

chapters

in

between

move

from

general

discussions

of

such

problems

as

barriers

to

employment-particularly

pen-

sion

and

insurance

costs,

the

health

and

skills

of

older

workers,

and

the

peculiar

difficulties

of

older

women

in

the

labor

force-to

programs

for

counseling

and

placement,

what

the

Government

employ-

ment

security

program

is,

and

what

various

groups-individuals,

business

and

industry,

voluntary

and

community

groups,

and

what

the

State

can

do

to

promote

and

encourage

new

earning

opportunities.

In

addition

to

the

discussions

of

general

problems,

brief

descriptions

of

several

individual

projects

designed

specifically

to

employ

older

work-

ers

are

included.

Since

the

conference

for

which

the

mate-

rial

in

this

volume

was

prepared

was

at-

tended

by

more

than

700

persons,

it is

not

surprising

that

the

papers

are

for

the

most

part

aimed

at

the

general

public

rather

than

the

student.

(The

fifteenfpage

list

of

ref-

erences

to

recent

writings

on

older

workers

should

prove

very

useful

to

many

persons

interested

in

the

field).

Some

of

the

con-

tributions,

such

as

the

chapter

on

the

ef-

fect

of

pensions

and

insurance

costs

by

William

H.

Wandel,

or

that

on

motivation

of

the

aging

worker

by

Dr.

Jack

Weinberg,

or

Pearl

Ravner’s

careful

summary

of

the

research

that

has

been

done

on

the

psycho-

logical

barriers

to

the

employment

of

older

women,

are

thoughtful

and

interesting.

But

many

of

the

others

are

rather

in

the

nature

of

brief

comments

from

the

confer-

ence

floor-welcome

to

a

discussion

leader

but

not

substantial

enough

to

deserve

per-

manent

recording.

To

someone

turning

his

attention

for

the

first

time

to

the

problems

of

older

workers

in

the

United

States,

per-

haps

organizing

a

conference

in his

own

community,

this

volume

would

introduce

some

of

the

experts

and

would

offer

a

fair