The MP for Prince George-Peace River was in Prince George Thursday to offer support for older workers.
Bob Zimmer announced a more-than $560,000 contribution to Employment Action's Seasons Employment Program for Older Workers project - a joint investment by the federal and provincial governments.
The money is part of the two government's Targeted Initiative for Older Workers and will go towards training up to 60 unemployed residents Prince George with skills to re-enter the workforce.
The program is targeted to people 55 to 64 years old who live in an area with a population of less than 250,000 that is experiencing high unemployment, significant downsizing or closures.
"Maybe the one particular job that they've worked in for many, many years is no longer available, so we're trying to get them targeted to the right particular job that they are interested in and get them employed again," said Zimmer.
Employment Action executive director Lori Forgeron said programming that uses strategic and longer-term intervention is required to attach - or re-attach - older workers to the job market.
"The Seasons Employment Program for Older Workers project will work collaboratively with local employers in order to identify and address workplace issues that act as barriers to employment for the older worker population," she said.
Employment Action is a non-profit organization geared to helping injured and disabled people find employment.
"They've typically done the work with special circumstance employment issues and this is one that fits into their purview," said Zimmer. "So it's nice to have the tools to pull it off."
Connecting older workers to jobs is not always at the forefront of government campaigns.
Most recently, the provincial government's youth job connection campaign fell under criticism for talking down to its audience with slogans such as "Hipster is not a full-time job."
Zimmer said there needs to be broader approach to reaching out to older workers.
"If there's anybody that we can say, 'Hey, you know we still have a place for you to work' and there's people who still want to work we want to help them to those jobs," he said.
