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AARP, National Council on the Aging: Americans Working Longer

By Kent Burtner, OregonLive News

04/01/03

As Americans age, they are working longer than ever before, according to reports from AARP and the National Council on the Aging.

In its 2002 study, "American Perceptions of Aging in the 21st Century," NCOA reported that 42 percent of people over 65 are either working full time (19 percent) or are working and retired at the same time (23 percent).

Why this trend? One reason is that the pool of younger workers is getting smaller. As baby boomers retire, there are fewer younger people to take their places.

Many companies realize that older workers have skills that took years to hone and a desirable work ethic. Even if they can find them, employers often find that the costs of training younger workers do not justify letting boomers go.

Workers stay on the job for another reason: money. Baby boomers have not saved for their retirement as well as their seniors.

Already, 17 percent of people who report incomes at 125 percent or less than the poverty level are seniors. In the NCOA survey, 40 percent of people 65 years of age or older reported "money problems" as their most significant concern.

If the recent round of service cuts to seniors are any kind of precursor, boomers will need to depend more on their own resources than the generation ahead of them.

A recent survey indicated that the majority of boomers still think that when they are elderly, the state will "take over" their care. But they may be sorely mistaken, given their numbers and the predicted inadequacy of Social Security and Medicare funds, and the present shortage of Medicaid funding.

One's "meaning in life" still figures strongly for senior citizens. When looking ahead, 41 percent of NCOA survey respondents indicated that they were worried about "not being productive" when they reach age 75 or beyond.

Psychotherapist Viktor Frankel noted that Nazi concentration camp inmates who felt their lives had "meaning" survived in greater numbers than others; similarly, the NCOA study suggests those who believe that their lives matter generally perceive life to be better than those who don't.
Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Board chairman, recently told Congress that he expects the "fit elderly population" to increase its representation in the workforce.

"Americans not only are living longer, but they are generally living healthier," he said.

"In addition, work is becoming less physically strenuous but more demanding intellectually, continuing a century-long trend toward a more conceptual and a less physical economic output."

Participation in the workforce by women is also on the rise. The U.S. Department of Labor predicts that between 1998 and 2008, the number of jobs held by women will increase by 15 percent, compared with 10 percent for men. The department's Women's Bureau expects this trend to continue as boomers continue to age.

All these trends suggest that reaching the age of 65 and then just stopping work is not likely to be the normal course for the boomer generation.
As stereotypes of the elderly change, the term "retirement age" will mean something other than 65.

Kent Burtner is public information officer for the Washington County Department of Aging and Veterans Services.