[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 3, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1097-E1098]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         JOBS FOR OLDER WORKERS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 3, 1997

  Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I wish to call your attention to an 
uplifting story in the San Jose Mercury News, describing how a Silicon 
Valley entrepreneur, Mr. Jessie Singh, has built his high-tech 
enterprise with the help of senior workers including many immigrants.
  It is a sad fact that older workers face significant obstacles in 
obtaining employment. But, as Mr. Singh's model shows, seniors can 
excel at the workplace.
  As our country continues to address the issue of welfare reform, we 
need to recognize that many older workers do want to work hard, and 
will work hard, if given the opportunity. Our economic future depends 
on employing the talents of all our residents.

             [From the San Jose Mercury News, Apr. 8, 1997]

  Threescore Years--And Hired Milpitas High-Tech Firm Finds Its Older 
                     Workers To Be Loyal Dependable

                           (By Carolyn Jung)

       It's a familiar sight at many Silicon Valley high-tech 
     companies--throngs of 20- and 30-somethings hunched over 
     computer terminals, assembling circuit boards, chomping pizza 
     or playing foosball.
       But visit BJS Electronics Inc. in Milpitas and you'll find 
     several workers of a decidedly different age, with a few more 
     gray hairs, embarking on a new career in their golden years.
       The company, one of the largest independent distributors of 
     memory chips, is doing something few other high-tech firms 
     seem willing to do--hiring older workers in their 50s and 
     60s. In BJS' case, many of them are also immigrants who face 
     the loss of Supplemental Security Income funds in August 
     because they are not naturalized citizens.
       Of the company's 68 employers, 10 range in age from 52 to 
     69. They have been hired as security guards, warehouse 
     workers and circuit-board testers. With these jobs, they say, 
     they've gained self-esteem and greater respect among friends 
     and family members. And at a time when many employees 
     routinely jump from job to job, company officials say they's 
     garnered a group of dependable employees who work hard and 
     remain loyal to the company.
       Company Chief Executive Jessie Singh, who came here from 
     India with only $8 in his pocket and now owns a company that 
     boasts $240 million in sales annually, said he made a special 
     effort to hire older workers because he understands how they 
     feel.
       ``Seniors are mostly unwanted in society or used by their 
     children who bring them to this country just to babysit the 
     grandchildren,' said Singh, 38. ``This is chance for them to 
     get out of the house. They can prove they're not less than 
     anyone else.''
       Bill Payson, president of Senior Staff, a job databank for 
     seniors in Silicon Valley, applauds BJS Electronics' hiring 
     practice, which he calls a rarity in this industry. While 
     many of the 3,500 seniors listed with the databank want to 
     work in high-tech, the job listings Payson gets from such 
     companies are few.
       Indeed, industry representatives for Joint Venture: Silicon 
     Valley and the Santa Clara Valley Manufacturing Group said 
     they are unsure if any high-tech companies make an effort to 
     hire older workers.


                        Over 35 is over the hill

       ``High-tech companies are notoriously prejudiced against 
     older folks. They think anyone over 35 is over the hill,'' 
     Payson said. ``For this company (BJS) to have that large a 
     proportion of older workers, I'd give them high marks for 
     that. This is the coming trend. And this company is ahead of 
     the wave.''
       About 21 percent of the population in Santa Clara County is 
     age 50 or over, according to U.S. Census data. About 9 
     percent is age 65 or older. (Payson and some advocacy groups 
     designate people over 50 as seniors. The federal government 
     has no single definition. Laws governing housing, social 
     services and medical care set different age limits.)
       Of the age 50-and-over group, 50 percent work because they 
     need the money or because they want to stay useful, Payson 
     said. For those with good computer and office skills, jobs 
     are not as hard to find, advocates for the elderly said. But 
     for those who speak limited English, who have transportation 
     problems or who have little work experience in this country, 
     it can be far more difficult.
       ``Most of the older people I work with feel there's 
     discrimination out there, that they're under-rated as far as 
     their health and skills,'' said Sue LaForge, director of the 
     National Council on Aging's job-training program. ``But the 
     situation is getting better. Employers are starting to see 
     seniors as a desirable addition to their workforce.''


                        Cost of living a factor

       LaForge hopes more Silicon Valley high-tech companies 
     follow suit, particularly because more seniors--the fastest-
     growing segment of the population--find it necessary to 
     continue working because of the high cost of living here.
       At BJS Electronics, seniors such as Sampuran Singh work 
     alongside other workers half their age. For the past four 
     months, the retired bank inspector from India has helped fill 
     sales for the $1,300 memory chips that are assembled onto 
     circuit boards and sold to companies such as Hewlett-Packard.
       ``I want to contribute to the economy of America,'' said 
     the 61-year-old immigrant who came to the United States a 
     year and a half ago. ``We don't want to be dependent on the 
     government. We shouldn't be a burden on others.''
       Jessie Singh, BJS' chief executive, said he got the idea to 
     hire the seniors when he heard Mayor Susan Hammer speak last 
     summer about the jarring effects welfare reform could have on 
     legal immigrants.
       He approached San Jose's Northside Community Center, which 
     provides nutritional and social services for Indo-American 
     and Filipino-American seniors, to find a senior to employ. 
     The center sent over four. Jessie Singh hired all of them.
       Of the 10 older workers at BJS Electronics, eight are Indo-
     Americans, one is of Chinese descent from the Philippines and 
     another is white. Their previous occupations include physical 
     education teacher, cab driver, farmer and army officer. None 
     had ever worked at a high-tech company.
       Now, they work full time, 40 hours a week, making about $7 
     an hour with full medical benefits. Advocates for the elderly 
     said they consider that a fair wage. Payson noted that many 
     of his seniors get paid up to $14 an hour, but those are 
     usually part-time jobs that don't include benefits.
       Jessie Singh said he wanted to help those struggling to 
     regain a foothold in life because it's an experience he knows 
     all too well, having left Punjab, India, 11 years ago with 
     almost nothing and moving to Santa Clara with his wife, 
     Surinder, after a traditional marriage arranged by their 
     parents.
       Even though he had an engineering degree and once 
     supervised 1,500 employees in India, he found it nearly 
     impossible to get a skilled job here.


                        Resumes at the gas pump

       So for the first four months, he delivered pizzas and 
     pumped gas. He would hand out his resume at the full-service 
     pump, figuring anyone buying premium could hire him.
       ``I did get a lot of response from that,'' he said. ``But 
     they all still wanted work experience in the United States, 
     and I didn't have any. I was so frustrated.''
       He started asking friends in India for help. One friend, a 
     distributor of computer chips, asked Singh to help him 
     purchase from Silicon Valley vendors some memory chips that 
     would be sold to buyers in India.
       ``I didn't even know what a memory chip was,'' Singh said 
     about the component that stores data temporarily while the 
     microprocessor carries out its work.
       Even so, he went to work, buying the chips for his friend 
     and making a 10 percent commission on each deal. He soon 
     realized that instead of being just a middleman, it would be 
     more worthwhile to strike out on his own.
       He borrowed money from friends and relatives and ran a one-
     man operation out of his Santa Clara apartment.
       These days, the millionaire businessman operates out of a 
     45,000-square-foot, high-security building where more than 
     10,000 memory chips go out each day.
       Now, Jessie Singh hopes other companies will copy his 
     efforts in hiring seniors. Surjit Sohi, 57, who has worked as 
     an operations manager at BJS Electronics for more than a 
     year, hopes so, too.

[[Page E1098]]

       ``In India, age counts for you,'' said Sohi, a retired army 
     general who immigrated here three years ago. ``But in 
     America, age goes against you. We should get over the 
     barriers of age. We want to show everyone that we can still 
     do well at our age.''

     

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