Economic Obsolescence For Workers In The 21st Century

[TheMastersNemesis]

The Reagan revolution brought forth a whole host of ills for the American work force. Careers are more and more becoming an endangered species and may soon be extinct under the new normal sponsored by multinational corporations. The new normal is the fact the workers now face "economic obsolescence" at ever younger ages. The boomers who have been mostly antilabor let alone anti union for a generation are finding that they are now just in the "scrap heap" now that they are older. They are no longer useful or wanted because they are too old or too expensive to hire no matter their experience.

What the American work force is not being told is that as a worker gets older they are no more valuable than an aging athlete who is finished by the time they are 40 in most sports. When a worker turns 42, corporate studies show that the "cost benefit" of keeping that worker past that age turns negative. The worker is more expensive than they are worth as they develop illnesses, have children who are their most expensive years, and accrue too many benefits like vacation time, higher pay, et al. So even if you are and under 40 something, your employer has a message for you. You will need to work harder and work many more hours to keep up with the production gains that offset your increasing expense to the company. Like an old quarterback in the NFL your days are numbered no matter how good you are. That is because younger workers are cheaper and more malleable.

More and more workers who pass that threshold face 20 or more years of working multiple poor paying jobs until they can theoretically retire. And if conservative politicians have their way the age of retirement will move up to 80.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Oh please, boomers aren't 'antilabor' or 'anti union'. Please provide

your source of info. Here's mine: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm


By age, the union membership rate was highest among workers 55 to 64
years old (15.7 percent). The lowest union membership rate occurred
among those ages 16 to 24 (4.4 percent).

[LiberalEsto]

2. I agree. I'm a boomer and was happy to belong to the NY-NJ Newspaper Guild

at the last union newspaper for which I worked.

And my boomer husband succeeded in organizing a union at a glass factory where he worked, although he was fired just before the union vote.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

3. Where's your source for "The boomers who have been mostly antilabor let alone anti union for a

generation?

How did you come to the conclusion re:

The boomers who have been mostly antilabor let alone anti union for a generation