Working Past Sixty-Five
The Aging Workforce
Dolly Parton sang "Working Nine-to-Five" and she could remake that song today and change the lyrics to reflect the aging workforce in America, "I am ninety-five, what a way to make a living."
Medline Plus released the findings of a new study showing that, "Although many Americans continue to work beyond retirement age, blue-collar workers are more likely to remain on the job after they turn 65 than white-collar employees." You can read more here.
It is not just America's workforce that is getting grayer, the Telegraph reported that Britain's government has decided to scrap 65 as the default retirement age and "Workers will be able to stay in their jobs into their seventies under new rules to be announced by the Government." You can read the full article here.I recently had the opportunity to interview several over 65 years of age people who are still working part-time positions. You will find them all over America, in the supermarkets, the libraries and even at the corner convenient stores. It begs the question: Why are they still working?
Some of the over-65 crowd is still working out of necessity and others are choosing to just keep busy. One 80-something year old man told me, "If you ask me, the way this country is going down the drain, retirement will be one of those words that fades away like the rotary phone. I still have one of those, too, but it sits in the corner collecting dust. Ha, I don't want to get dusty so I just keep on working."
I interviewed a spry 90-year-old who is working a part-time job at the local convenient store and she shared the following, "My biggest worry is getting into a car accident on my way to work. A young girl pulled out in front of me, talking on her portable phone and the first thought that went through my head was that if I hit her car, the headline would read, 'Ninety-year-old involved in car crash' and no one would bother to question if it was her fault or mine. When you live this long, you are guilty by default."
The over 65 crowd may not be working "Nine to Five" but they are still working.
Sources:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_114647.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpKAA2VxWY8&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=PL1E3C869AD2514629
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/retirement/2010-12-07-1Aboomerretire07_CV_N.htm
Published by Michele Starkey
Optimist who enjoys writing, laughing and spreading good news. If I have but one life to live, I hope to make mine memorable. My epitaph will read: she lived, she loved, she left. View profile
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69 Comments
Post a CommentGood writing!
Many over-65 folks are working out of necessity, especially since many of them lost their jobs in the late 90s and early 2000s, and their financial cushions in 2008 and have never recouped that money. It's a crime if you ask me. If a person CHOOSES to work past 65, fine, let them. But many of us look forward to retirement. Many manual labor jobs are just not fitting for older people who looked forward to retiring from the rat race and now are forced to work past 65, putting their lives in danger. Not everyone has their dream job that they choose to pursue until they drop dead. Most of us were just ecking out our time. Me and my husband's American dream of working until 62 and buying a little log cabin in the woods is gone. We were both forced out of the workforce before we hit 60, are unemployable in our old fields and now have to depend on that cabin money to live. And there are actually some people who say boomers who retired early are selfish for collecting that SS $!
I know a wealthy 94 year old man who is still working. He does it because he loves it. Must be nice.
Yes they are.
I love the idea that people that are older remain active. Everything is so expensive now that people just about have to at least work a part time job to have enough money to pay their bills. I don't think social security is enough. Some people are very fortunate but unfortunately most people are not. The economy has hit people very hard. You know the funny thing about it is that people can plan for retirement but then along comes illness or the death of a spouse and it throws a person into a downward spiral. Life can be very hard. God Bless everyone.
Retirement may well become a long past benefit~I wonder if today's younger workforce will have the opportunity to experience a profitable, meaningful retirement~
Very real...
Great article!
I'm no longer employed in the offline world, due to lack of work! Given a lemon, make lemonade.
I hope people are not depending on others to prepare for their retirement. Own your own I say. Great article Michele, as always. The two comments from the interviews were priceless.