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Forget the rocking chairs and golf shoes. When southwest Minnesotans retire, many seek different jobs, a trend some say is vital in the face of a decreasing, but aging population.

To contend with the combined impact of a statewide labor shortage and an aging population, rural Minnesota needs to maximize its use of the productivity of older residents, said Jan Hively, coordinator for the Vital Aging Initiative, a University of Minnesota program designed to connect adults age 55 and older with education programs that support their self-sufficiency, community participation and personal enrichment. This currently isn't the case, said Hively, who also organizes forums on recruiting, renewing and retaining older employees in the workplace.

Hively conducted a survey on productive aging last year in Kandiyohi, McLeod, Meeker and Renville Counties. She found that 40 percent of residents age 55 and older are engaged in paid work, one-half of them in full-time employment. Seventy percent of them are between age 55 and 64; 25 percent are between 65 and 74; and five percent are between 75 and 84. Additionally, 60 percent of those surveyed perform unpaid volunteer work.

Their contributions equate to 12,878 full-time-equivalent positions in the four-county area, including paid workers, volunteers, and caregivers, the survey said. The annual economic value of their work, calculated at 2,000 annual hours each at a minimum hourly wage of $5.50, comes to $141,658,000.

"It's very important to define work appropriately," Hively said. "If you define work as productivity, enjoying your crafts, or raising your kids is work."

The survey also found that approximately one out of six seniors who are unemployed would prefer to work, and that those living on incomes of less than $22,000 annually are most likely to wish they were working. Aside from acquiring pay and benefits, seniors said working boosted their self respect, provided a social life, made them feel younger, and gave them an identity and recognition in the community.

Her survey supports the results of a recent AARP survey that found 80 percent of baby boomers expect to work past retirement age, at least part-time. Meanwhile, a recent AARP survey of employers found that although human resource directors know what is needed to keep older workers on the job -- more flexibility; reduced hours; benefits packages that prevent penalizing employees who work beyond retirement age; upgrading workers' skills and training supervisors about what to expect with older workers -- few workplaces engage in these practices.

"Human resource people all around the country recognize that these are the things that need to be done, but the CEOs are not yet with it," Hively said. "My whole premise is that there will be total transformation of attitudes and activities as the baby boomers come along, but as someone who's 69, I'm sick of waiting around."

Hively earned her PHD in education two months ago from the UMN and hasn't any plans to slow down. She believes the April 2000 amendment to the Social Security law, which extends full benefits without penalty for paid work to 65-69 year-olds, exemplifies a climate for innovation, and that older Minnesotans themselves must lobby for change.

Hively suggested additional modifications, such as expanding funding and eliminating income eligibility criteria for federally-funded stipend volunteer programs; amending the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to allow pro-rated fringe benefits for part-time employees; designating Medicare the primary source of health care coverage for workers ages 65 and over, thus reducing and subsidizing employer costs; using direct tax credits to encourage employers to hire and train older workers; and increasing federal and state employment training assistance for older workers.

Some strides have been made through various government programs and grants that help place older workers in jobs, but most are tied to income levels, Hively said.

Winnie Mettling, 75, of Slayton, returned to work seven years ago under one of these programs. She now works part time for the Southwest Opportunity Counsel, where she has a private office. She also serves as a senior companion to three women.

"When you get to be my age, it's nice to be your own boss," Mettling said. "Some days you feel like, do I have to get up this morning? But you always feel better when you do have to get up and get going. I know I wouldn't be good at staying at home. I raised five children, and I think I'd become quite depressed if I wasn't busy enough, so, it's good that I have a place to go."

After John Doyle, 68, of Marshall, retired early in 1993 as a classroom teacher, he found three part-time jobs on his own. He works for the adult basic education program, as a "people greeter" at Walmart and as a member of the Marshall City Council.

"Each job that I have, I enjoy," Doyle said. "And you see, for each job, I collect a remuneration. Retirement is not that great for income. It's financial need, without a doubt. But it's also, in my case, I worked all my adult life and I retired early, and I needed something to do, and I wanted something to do."

Even if Lillian Johnson, 64, of Madison, finds someone to take over her income tax preparation business, she said she doubts retirement is an option.

"I'm from the old school. I just want to keep taking care of everybody," Johnson said.

Additionally, as a self-employed worker, she is without a pension.

"I put a little money into an IRA, but it wouldn't last very long if that's all I had," Johnson said. "Social security was never meant for someone to live on completely."

Maddy Forsberg, director of the Southwest Area Agency on Aging, wholeheartedly embraces the idea of working after retirement, a term she thinks is best dropped from people's vocabulary.

"I want to be recycled," Forsberg said. "There's no reason that when I'm 65 I can't continue working. Maybe I don't want to do this high pressure job, but my biggest fear when I think about retiring isn't so much financial, it's fear of not having enough to do."

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