7 ms·

> While the prospect of longer lives is a good thing, problems arise when a shrinking work force cannot foot the pension bill. Not true. In EU the retirement

by jkot 10y ago

> While the prospect of longer lives is a good thing, problems arise when a shrinking work force cannot foot the pension bill. Not true. In EU the retirement age is moving as population gets older. By 2040 retirement age could be around 75 years.

c3833174 10y ago
Isn't it great? Work almost all your life. No more grandparents taking care of children while parents work, decreasing the number of families that might have children. Less open positions for young people.
- tcoppi 10y ago
  Yeah, this sounds like a great recipe for a stable economic system and orderly transition to steadier demographics over the next 20-50 years. Edit: An informative graph for the bleak jobs picture for young people this shift is creating in the US: http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2016/07/03/job%20additions%20total%20by%20age_0.jpg http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/im...
  - BatFastard 10y ago
    Zerohedge is not a reliable data source IMHO
    - tcoppi 10y ago
      It's straight from BLS data, throw it into something and graph it yourself if you want http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t09.htm http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t09.htm
- skewart 10y ago
  There can be a lot of psychological, emotional, and health benefits to continuing to work in some capacity throughout old age. It gives people a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives. I'm a long way from retirement but I hope to have the kind of career where I work in at least a lightweight way well into old age (my grandfather didn't stop working completely until he was 93). One thing that would probably help would be much shorter work weeks.
googletazer 10y ago
Another idiocy from EU bureaucrats, vast majority of people are physically and mentally not capable of working past 75 and nothing in the foreseeable future will change it. Another social issue is that they're simply unemployable - what kind of an employer would hire a 75 year old? A 75 year old doctor or lawyer might keep their practice, but they're in the realm of the small business owner.
- hiram112 10y ago
  You're downvoted but absolutely correct, even though you offended the easily-triggered HN crowd. 3 of my 4 grandparents are now passed, and there is absolutely no way they would have been able to be a net asset in any actual profit driven and competitive enterprise while that age these days. Sure they might have been able to do something 'helpful' like read to young children or some other volunteer-like job, but these types of pseudo employment require more time and energy from actual workers for coordination than the worth of the labor itself. By mid 70's none of my grandparents had the technical abilities to perform adequately in a non-physical office position, nor the physical tenacity to work a more demanding service job. Very few 75 year olds I've met would be any different. Of course this all is a moot point since we now have competition between millenials and 45 year olds in some industries. what makes anyone think there are jobs available for the very old, even if they could be productful?

by jkot 10y ago

c3833174 10y ago

Isn't it great? Work almost all your life. No more grandparents taking care of children while parents work, decreasing the number of families that might have children. Less open positions for young people.

tcoppi 10y ago
Yeah, this sounds like a great recipe for a stable economic system and orderly transition to steadier demographics over the next 20-50 years. Edit: An informative graph for the bleak jobs picture for young people this shift is creating in the US: http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2016/07/03/job%20additions%20total%20by%20age_0.jpg http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/im...
- BatFastard 10y ago
  Zerohedge is not a reliable data source IMHO
  - tcoppi 10y ago
    It's straight from BLS data, throw it into something and graph it yourself if you want http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t09.htm http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t09.htm
skewart 10y ago
There can be a lot of psychological, emotional, and health benefits to continuing to work in some capacity throughout old age. It gives people a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives. I'm a long way from retirement but I hope to have the kind of career where I work in at least a lightweight way well into old age (my grandfather didn't stop working completely until he was 93). One thing that would probably help would be much shorter work weeks.

googletazer 10y ago

Another idiocy from EU bureaucrats, vast majority of people are physically and mentally not capable of working past 75 and nothing in the foreseeable future will change it. Another social issue is that they're simply unemployable - what kind of an employer would hire a 75 year old? A 75 year old doctor or lawyer might keep their practice, but they're in the realm of the small business owner.

hiram112 10y ago
You're downvoted but absolutely correct, even though you offended the easily-triggered HN crowd. 3 of my 4 grandparents are now passed, and there is absolutely no way they would have been able to be a net asset in any actual profit driven and competitive enterprise while that age these days. Sure they might have been able to do something 'helpful' like read to young children or some other volunteer-like job, but these types of pseudo employment require more time and energy from actual workers for coordination than the worth of the labor itself. By mid 70's none of my grandparents had the technical abilities to perform adequately in a non-physical office position, nor the physical tenacity to work a more demanding service job. Very few 75 year olds I've met would be any different. Of course this all is a moot point since we now have competition between millenials and 45 year olds in some industries. what makes anyone think there are jobs available for the very old, even if they could be productful?