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"Dean Canaris, 56...Harry Jackson, 55...Mark Montgomery, 53,...older men cut loose from employment at the peak of their earning power and work experience." I h

"Dean Canaris, 56...Harry Jackson, 55...Mark Montgomery, 53,...older men cut loose from employment at the peak of their earning power and work experience." I had never stopped to think about this before. Is it a common assumption that one's earning power peaks in one's fifties?

run4yourlives 17y ago
Not only common, but I would think accurate as well.
timwiseman 17y ago
I think so, at least for the "normal person" that follows a path along the line of school into a series of jobs with medium to large organizations. Most salaries are based on seniority or else on skills and abilities. Although those are not the same thing by any stretch, they both normally are correlated with age, though of course there are numerous exceptions. Seniority takes time, and only time, to build up. So while the older people do not necessarily have seniority, the young necessarily do not. Skill, experience, and knowledge generally improve with age, especially amoung the ambitious that continue taking opportunities to improve those. Even more than that, it takes time to build up a portfolio/resume/references to prove to employers that you have those needed skills and experiences. So as a general rule income will go up with age. But people start retiring in their sixties, for some people in their early sixties. Also, some others that do not fully retire will transition into a career with less stress and correspondingly less income. So, average income for the population as a whole is likely to start plummetting by that point. So, for the population as a whole, peak income would come in the mid to late 50s with a rapid drop off afterwards. There are of course many outliers. Most athletes and startup founders for instance will pass their peak long before that, but they make up a small portion of the population as a whole.
patio11 17y ago
Since most companies give offers based on the algorithm "What you were getting before plus some fudge factor" and most raises are calculated as "A few percent times what you were getting before" and happen yearly or close to it, aging increases salary. This continues until one's mid sixties, when most people transition from full time employment to some other arrangement, which causes a salary cut. I have always privately thought this is gratuitously inefficient and severely unfair to both most twenty-somethings and nearly all highly productive workers, regardless of age. (My productivity in programming has demonstrably increased 100% in the last two years as I've become much better at web development. In my business, this means I make rather more money than I used to. In my day job, 2.5% raise compounded twice, yippee?)
maukdaddy 17y ago
Um considering two of these three were manufacturing-related jobs I think it is inaccurate to apply that conclusion across the board. The article does not mention 50-year old white males who have BS or higher degrees, let alone professional degrees. Since education and unemployment are inversely related, I doubt things are as dire for educated adults.

run4yourlives 17y ago

Not only common, but I would think accurate as well.

timwiseman 17y ago

I think so, at least for the "normal person" that follows a path along the line of school into a series of jobs with medium to large organizations. Most salaries are based on seniority or else on skills and abilities. Although those are not the same thing by any stretch, they both normally are correlated with age, though of course there are numerous exceptions. Seniority takes time, and only time, to build up. So while the older people do not necessarily have seniority, the young necessarily do not. Skill, experience, and knowledge generally improve with age, especially amoung the ambitious that continue taking opportunities to improve those. Even more than that, it takes time to build up a portfolio/resume/references to prove to employers that you have those needed skills and experiences. So as a general rule income will go up with age. But people start retiring in their sixties, for some people in their early sixties. Also, some others that do not fully retire will transition into a career with less stress and correspondingly less income. So, average income for the population as a whole is likely to start plummetting by that point. So, for the population as a whole, peak income would come in the mid to late 50s with a rapid drop off afterwards. There are of course many outliers. Most athletes and startup founders for instance will pass their peak long before that, but they make up a small portion of the population as a whole.

patio11 17y ago

Since most companies give offers based on the algorithm "What you were getting before plus some fudge factor" and most raises are calculated as "A few percent times what you were getting before" and happen yearly or close to it, aging increases salary. This continues until one's mid sixties, when most people transition from full time employment to some other arrangement, which causes a salary cut. I have always privately thought this is gratuitously inefficient and severely unfair to both most twenty-somethings and nearly all highly productive workers, regardless of age. (My productivity in programming has demonstrably increased 100% in the last two years as I've become much better at web development. In my business, this means I make rather more money than I used to. In my day job, 2.5% raise compounded twice, yippee?)

maukdaddy 17y ago

Um considering two of these three were manufacturing-related jobs I think it is inaccurate to apply that conclusion across the board. The article does not mention 50-year old white males who have BS or higher degrees, let alone professional degrees. Since education and unemployment are inversely related, I doubt things are as dire for educated adults.