The coming train wreck for older workers
By Richard Eisenberg
16 June 2016 (MarketWatch) – Uh-oh. American workers aged 50 or older think there’s nearly a 1 in 2 chance they’ll still be working at 70 but many employees who expect to work longer are exactly the ones who’ll likely be least able to do so. That’s the upshot of the new, frightening (for employees and employers) 2015/2016 Global Benefits Attitudes Survey by Willis Towers Watson, a global benefits advisory consultant. The firm surveyed 5,083 U.S. employees at large companies, as well as roughly 25,000 employees in 18 other countries. The workers expecting to keep plugging away until 70, the study discovered, are often “the most vulnerable” and “showing higher levels of stress, lower levels of health and lower levels of engagement with their current jobs,” says Shane Bartling, senior consultant at Willis Towers Watson. “That’s an uncomfortable fact for employees facing a very difficult situation and it sends a warning sign to employers about what’s transpiring in the new retirement system in the United States that we’ve put in place,” Bartling adds. According to the survey, of those planning to retire after 70:
- Only 47% say they are in very good health
- 40% feel they are stuck in their jobs (compared with 27% who plan to retire before 65)
- 40% have high or above average stress (compared with 30% of those expecting to retire at 65)
- 48% of workers earning below $35,000 expect to work to 70 or later (vs. 20% of those making $75,000 or more)
And if these vulnerable workers find themselves out of work, but wanting to be employed, the psychological effects — not to mention the financial ones — could be devastating. [more]
The coming train wreck for older workers
Why should we be working past age 65? Because the United States spends all of its money on the war machine and treats its citizens like shit. That's why.
Micheal Moore's movie, Where To Invade Next goes into how other countries like Italy, France, Sweden treat their citizens. It's night and day compared to the United States of Slaves and Oppressed Workers. Mandatory maternity leave (paid, 5 months), shorter work weeks (35 hours, paid for 40), 2 hour lunches, 4 weeks vacation (can accumulate for months and months total time off), worker appointments to company boards (helps with company decisions directly from the factory floor from the workers), prisons without guns (prisoners have keys to their own cells – watch the video to see why), a society that actually works together instead of against each other, people participation and so much more, like a liveable wage, health care, free college and on and on.
This makes the Untied United Slaves of Amerika look like the slaves and ignoramuses we are. There is a whole different world out there that does not seek to oppress, enslave and subjugate the citizenry.