Attention Boomers: The Economy Needs You To Work Past 70

[KamaAina]

Attention CNBC: The country needs you to zip it.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100724186

People working in their later years could help with the country's fiscal problems, says Gary Burtless, a Brookings Institution economist who is finalizing a study on the issue. Every additional year that a person stays on the job brings more revenue to the federal treasury in income taxes. If current trends continue, working seniors will have a positive, if small, impact on federal deficits under the most plausible budget projections.

More working seniors also could lower demand for social services by cutting the number of Americans who don't have enough money in retirement. In 2008, the federal and state governments spent nearly $15,000 per elderly person on income security and tax credits, according to a report earlier this year from the Urban Institute. Every year that a person delays taking Social Security past his or her full retirement age (anywhere from age 65 to 67, depending on the date of birth), the check amount grows by 8 percent, says Sara Rix, who focuses on the economics of aging at AARP's Public Policy Institute....

But other experts worry that later retirement could shrink company bottom lines if the workers who stay do so because they don't have enough retirement savings. The typical household, age 55-64, had only $120,000 in their 401(k) or IRA account in 2010, according to a study last summer from Boston College's Center for Retirement Research. The report also noted that 13 percent of those ages 60-64 had no retirement account at all.

Those who feel obligated to keep working tend to have worse health and work in jobs that are more strenuous, compared with older knowledge workers who choose to keep going. Susan Conrad of Plancorp Retirement Plan Advisors says that among this group, health care, workers' compensation, and disability costs are higher than for others, while productivity is lower. A study by MassMutual Financial Group calculated that for companies with more than a thousand employees, increasing the portion of their workforce of those over age 60 from 10 percent to 30 percent hiked their health care and disabilities costs by about $2 million. Johnson also estimates that a company spends an average of about a thousand dollars more per year for an older worker.

Get a job, Grandma!

[badtoworse]

1. They can kiss my ass! One more year and I'm done.

[Honeycombe8]

9. Hooray, Bad! This is a dangerous year.....

I would think. As I approach the ability to retire, I find myself less willing to put up with crap. I'm afraid I may leave ahead of time and suffer the consequences. But at least I've saved....I could probably get by if I had to. But that's not the way I want to spend my future years: struggling to get by.

[badtoworse]

15. I know exactly how you feel about being impatient with BS

I also don't have the same drive (or stamina) that I had say 20 years ago, so I'm sometimes lacking in motivation. I do think I'm getting to the point where it's time to go. At the same time, there's a part of me that is sad because my career is winding down. I've been truly blessed doing really interesting things and working with some great people - I will miss that. At the same time, there are a lot of things I've been looking forward to having more time to do. I'd say my feelings are a actually little mixed.

[Honeycombe8]

18. That's exactly how I feel! My feelings are mixed.

I'm anxious to go (I've got a little ways to go, yet, but not much), but OTOH, I like the social aspect of my job, self-esteem, the paycheck. I'll miss those things. But...being blamed for the boss's mistake, the bitch down the hall, the policies and rules and hoops I have to jump through for HR, having to get there at the same time every day, the stress of deadlines.....I just wanna walk out sometimes.

Maybe I need a day off.

[HereSince1628]

2. I guess that refers to those boomers who have jobs

because if your much over 50 it's damned hard to get into a job, that doesn't make you eligible for SNAP and medicare.

[Honeycombe8]

19. I changed jobs at 58. Ask me anything! nt

[HereSince1628]

20. Whoopee! The exception that makes the rule.

[Honeycombe8]

24. It is very hard, if not pert near impossible to get a job at my age. But I did. And the one we just

hired...she's also pushing 60.

My co. hired a number of workers last year who were over 40, and some were over 50.

If I had to guess, it's a combination of factors. First and foremost, it helps to have a specific job skill or vocation or profession. So the years of experience have some value...you're not a working class worker competing for jobs with 20 year olds, and which may require a level of physicality that older workers might not have. I was competing with maybe anyone from 35 to 45. I got the job at 58. I am very lucky.

The one pushing 60 who was just hired had been unemployed for months. She feels lucky, I'm sure, to have finally gotten a job. They hired her after the young gal who had that job quit after a few months. She has a specific job title and skill set, like I do. So that helps.

[Vincardog]

3. Has anyone thought to tell the AllMighty Job creators that they need to HIRE us?

[winter is coming]

12. +1. n/t

[Honeycombe8]

21. I work for a company that LIKES to hire "mature" workers.

They snap 'em up at reduced salaries, taking advantage of the worker's circumstances (laid off, wanting to change but not having many offers, whatever). But hey, that's the way it works. If it's an employee's market, we sure ask for higher wages. Still, it's kinda sad they do that.

Think about it from the company's point of view. They get all that experience, at a reduced cost. There is less down time for training new workers. Some of them don't work out, but some do. They don't miss Mondays cause they were out partying all weekend, they don't take maternity leave, they're more reliable than younger workers in many respects, they're more grateful for the job, they stay longer, and they tend to have an old-fashioned work ethic. It's a win-win.

Sure they don't have some things the younger ones do. Mainly perfect health. There is that detriment to hiring older. Once you hit 50 you're more likely to get all sorts of ailments. But no employee is perfect.

It's unusual that my company does that. I don't know if it's a policy (that would be reverse age discrimination, I guess), or if it just happens that way. They're also more willing to give an older, laid off worker a chance. We just hired an older woman who'd been unemployed for 6 mos after being laid off. No employment agency in town would even waste their time with her. So she hired one on the internet from out of town. And boom...my company hired her after a young perky gal didn't want to do the work (she had valid points...nothing agains the young gal), so left after a few months to be a stay at home mom. The older worker is very grateful to have gotten the job. I hope things work out for her.

They just hired me last year at age 58.

[Newest Reality]

4. Now that's a joke that

cracks me up. Hoo hoo!

[LiberalEsto]

5. But they won't hire us once we're past 50!

I'm 61 and I've been looking for work for more than 4 1/2 years.
How can I work past 70 if I can't find work in the first place?

[Honeycombe8]

23. Ahhh. The Catch-22.

A lot of companies won't hire older workers, or won't hire workers who have been laid off, whatever their age.

Certain things help. I changed jobs at age 58. But I was surprised I was able to find a new job at that age. Because I know companies don't like to hire older workers, generally. I found one that does, though. They snap 'em up at reduced salaries and get the benefit of all that experience. Look at me and the bargain they got. I took a large paycut...and I'm healthier than most young workers I know. My weight is normal, I don't smoke, I've learned how to get along with people, I cost them nothing in ins. claims, I rarely miss work, and I've got years of experience.

But the change was traumatic, and why I changed. I sure didn't want a big paycut at my age. But I had to change, I felt. And I was very lucky to get a new job.

So it helps to be, and LOOK, healthy and younger than you are. They won't know you're over 60 unless you look it or act it. Walk with some energy, make sure your cheeks look rosy and youthful. Impressions are important. I wouldn't be surprised if my employer was surprised to find out how old I am, after they hired me. But they certainly knew I was at least 50, since I was at my prior co. for 25 years.

[llmart]

6. Ah, yes; another article of propaganda.....

trying to convince seniors to work until they drop or to delay taking Social Security. I'm working because I have to to pay my bills but I took my Social Security at age 63. Most everyone I know has taken theirs as early as possible because they no longer have full time jobs.

[RebelOne]

7. I worked until I was 71.

But I also started collecting SS when I was 65.

[socialist_n_TN]

8. Sorry, no can do........

I already have my retirement plans set. I'm going retire so I can spend more time overthrowing the capitalist economic system.

[HughBeaumont]

10. Brookings and CNBC: Trapitalism's Lemon Party.

[Merlot]

11. The other school of thought is that older people retire EARLIER

and free up jobs for younger people who are starting out, paying off student loans, buying houses etc. The younger people would have a large impact on the economy. If people over, say 55, who wanted to retire could actually afford it, they could spend their time doing volunteer work, with family, etc. Things that would also be good for the economy.

Besides, as others have noted, you don't much find jobs when you're over 50, unless you're a CEO of a larger company. Then you stay there until you die.

[Raine]

13. Better come up with a new plan "genius" like taxing people like the Kockroaches

make those who have reaped the most from this country pay back some of what they were rewarded with.

[L0oniX]

14. What??? They still hire people over 50???

[SammyWinstonJack]

16. TAX the chit outta the RICH greedheads if the federal treasury 'needs' more revenue for whatever

it 'needs' more revenue for.........

[kenny blankenship]

17. Actually the economy doesn't want your work in your golden years

(as you'll soon discover, since it won't give you any) it just wants to give your retirement $$ away to the 1%

[Ilsa]

22. Then maybe they should talk to corporations about not laying

off their older workforce. Cooperation can't come just from workers.

[dflprincess]

25. I'm planning to work until I'm 70

because if I do it means about $700 more a month in my Social Security check. (Per what SSA estimates my benefits will be)

[mia]

30. Same here.

I'd like to keep on working well beyond 70 if possible.

[pnwmom]

26. And all those young people who can't find any job?

I guess they don't matter.

[doc03]

27. Too late for me I already quit 3 years ago and

don't intend to start again. Retirement is the best job I ever had.

[JDPriestly]

28. It isn't grandma's choice to make. There are not jobs for grandma no matter what she wants.

[mia]

29. Hey, I'm a grandma and I want to keep on working as long as I am able.

I'm strong and healthy and love being part of the community. I know that I'm lucky and am thankful for it.