Workforce - Insufficient for Retirees Care in Canada and the U.S.

It is predicted that when Baby boomers start their retirement, there will not be an applicant to replace them at work. In fact, today, large corporations have chosen to offer employee retention schemes as well as consulting services for retirees or future retirees to make sure the company’s production is not adversely effected by those leaving their jobs.

The retirement assistance industry is no exception, but its background is different. Since Baby boomers and their children usually left home at 18 to attend university and live on campus, a lot of them did not witness the day to day aging process of their parents or grandparents. This made them unable to understand the sociological and psychological changes of aging. This means that today, many of those employed in the care of older adults in North America do not have the sensitivity to handle the aging process and this has resulted in a high turnover in this industry.

Mr. Javier Govi AMAR National President has said that, "In both cases it is clear that the areas for job opportunity for immigrants who have such sensitivity will see growth. However, at the same time, I believe that in the next decade, Canada and the United States  will most likely negotiate a treaty similar to the "Programa Bracero" which occurred between the U.S. and Mexico from 1942 to 1964". Under this program nearly five million Mexicans came to work in the agricultural fields of the United States while their youth were engaged in military work of the Second World War. He added that: “necessary and major changes will be applied in international migration laws”.

In this regard, studies by AMAR applied within the United States border detected in all retirement communities from California to Texas that at least three of seven workers were Latinos or Mexican Americans and their employee satisfaction rates were higher than the original Caucasian and African American worker. This allows us to confirm that Latin America has the sensitivity and culture to provide proper care for the elderly, to the extent that retirees who live in Mexico have coined the phrase “A Mexican friendly care”.  It is also well known that Latinos have the culture and tradition for providing caring, quality service that is well worth exporting and is therefore a major opportunity area.