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> Related: The notion of "retirement" is a relatively recent invention. Not really. The idea of old people who could no longer work effectively but still had m
by freddie_mercury 6y ago
> Related: The notion of "retirement" is a relatively recent invention.
Not really. The idea of old people who could no longer work effectively but still had many years of their life ahead of them is not a recent invention.
The notion of an old age pension -- whether paid by a company or a government -- that "everyone" got is relatively new. But that doesn't mean "retirement" is new. It was just paid for by individual families before. Go read literature and it is chock full of grandparents from the pre-modern era just hanging out at the multi-generational home not exactly doing a whole lot.
People who say retirement is a new phenomenon point to phrases like "In 1880 the majority of men older than sixty-four toiled in the labor force".
But this statement hides a truth: 25% of men over 65 didn't toil in the workforce, so clearly retirement had already been "invented". And, of course, there is the entire other half of humanity -- women -- who also weren't in the workforce. So the reality is that over 62% of people over the age of 65 didn't participate in the workforce in 1850.
- solveit 6y ago> 25% of men over 65 didn't toil in the workforce, so clearly retirement had already been "invented" But were they retired by choice or were they just too frail to work? > And, of course, there is the entire other half of humanity -- women -- who also weren't in the workforce. Kind of true, but not exactly retirement either, and most of them weren't not working, they were working inside the household.
- freddie_mercury 6y agoPeople who are "retired" today also work inside the household. They're still making food, doing laundry, and often looking after grandchildren. Even though retirement has been "invented", 60% of grandparents provide childcare in the US and 27% of people over 65 are still in the workforce. There's clearly been some change in the past ~100 years, would be pretty weird if there hadn't!, but I'm not convinced there's really a bright line of "retirement was invented, before and after".
- simonsarris 6y ago> entire other half of humanity -- women -- who also weren't in the workforce What on earth? To think the entirety of women of any age group in 1880 did not work is very "not even wrong" territory. They worked all kinds of jobs, inside and outside the home, from a very young age to old age. Many industries employed more women than men. Flip to page 208 if you want a table. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/women/b0218_dolwb_1947.pdf https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/women/...
- freddie_mercury 6y agoYour reference supports my point. It says that in 1900 under 10% of women over 65 were in "gainful employment". I wasn't talking about women-as-a-whole, since the context we're talking about is people over 65.
- spullara 6y agoA woman working at home is not retired by any stretch of the imagination.