Retirement/social security is the carrot: "work hard until you reach age xx and then you can relax." Some people need a reason to keep going, and society needs

Retirement/social security is the carrot: "work hard until you reach age xx and then you can relax." Some people need a reason to keep going, and society needs those people to keep working for most of their life, or institutions will collapse. Yes, some people enjoy their jobs, or are motivated by moving up to a better job or more pay, but the reality is there are many people for whom these will never be possibilities. They do jobs that are not fun or rewarding, that can be performed by nearly anyone so will never be forced by the market to pay more than minimum wage. It used to be the motivation for these jobs was the stick, but we've progressed, and now offer a carrot instead.