More training programs are needed to help boomers fill workforce gaps.

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Colleges need to focus on training adults to fill workforce shortages in professions such as teaching and nursing, as well as skilled trades like plumbing and carpentry, says the Indianapolis Star.

In an editorial, the newspaper declares “adult education is in crisis” because America’s 76 million baby boomers have begun to retire and only 46 million workers are available to replace them, yet universities, employers and government have been slow to train older workers to fill the gaps.

The picture is particularly bleak in Indiana, the paper says, because that state’s population over age 55 ranks 46th in the nation in the percent holding degrees, 42nd in the percent with high skills and last in the nation in the percent going back to college.

While the state has made some progress at helping young people learn employable skills, the paper notes that training adults is not a high priority. It quotes state Higher Education Commissioner Stan Jones, who says that colleges are “geared for the 18-year-old, for whom going to school is the first concern. With the older person, family and other things come first. As we say, life gets in the way. And higher education is not structured for adults who may not be going full time.”

The editorial concludes, “The timeless lesson is that an economic problem can be seen as an opportunity in disguise. Encourage models exist. But if the vision doesn’t prevail at the highest levels of political, academic and business leadership, opportunity will take a bypass around Indiana.”