[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
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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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