Older people in the United States today often
need to work past their desired “retirement age.” However, evidence
demonstrates that this is not easy for most older workers; instead 52 percent
of retirees left their jobs before they had intended to. Wages, hours, and
working conditions for older adults often are much worse than their career
jobs, and frequently do not accommodate aging bodies. As well, age
discrimination flourishes on the job and in hiring. This Fall 2019 issue
of Generations focuses on the economic conditions of older
people as they stay or reenter the workforce, and takes a critical look at the
older labor market.
In “Older Worker Exploitation: Magnitude,
Causes, and Solutions,” Guest Editors Teresa Ghilarducci and Siavash
Radpour give readers a realistic look at the disempowered status of
America’s older workers and their rocky paths to a secure or insecure
retirement. Work is good, and many Americans like it, but working in a job with
the benefits of a secure pension is obviously preferable to taking a job with
decreased benefits, as many older adults must.
Carl E. Van Horn and Maria Heidkamp, in their article, “Older Workers, Precarious
Jobs, and Unemployment: Challenges and Policy Recommendations,” describe
findings from two large surveys that posit solutions for the millions of older
Americans working in precarious or part-time jobs. Despite a current stellar
labor market, millions of older Americans work in precarious or part-time jobs
with low wages and no benefits, or are unemployed. But they need to work, as
they have limited savings and pensions and must supplement their Social
Security payments. Findings from the studies reveal policies that could help
such older workers.
David Neumark’s article, “Age Discrimination in the U.S.
Labor Market,” explains and reviews the direct and indirect evidence of age
discrimination in employment practices. Age discrimination in hiring can create
demand-side barriers to achieving longer work lives. Indirect evidence points
to discrimination against older workers, and a growing body of direct,
experimental evidence shows age discrimination in hiring, especially in regard
to older women. Stronger age-discrimination laws, which exist in some states,
may help, but bigger changes are necessary.
“Extended Work Lives and the Rediscovery of
the ‘Disadvantaged’ Older Worker,” by David Lain and Chris Phillipson, points
out that disadvantaged older workers are virtually invisible in policy debates
about extended and extending work lives. But these workers are greater in
number than is assumed, according to the U.K.’s English Longitudinal
study of Ageing and the U.S.’s Health and Retirement Study.
Qualitative research with hospitality workers in England reveals the personal
and negative effects of expecting people to work beyond traditional retirement
ages when they have low levels of health and education and struggle to keep
working in physically demanding jobs.
Monique Morrissey, in her article “Policy Solutions for the
Retirement Crisis,” addresses the looming retirement crisis and the remedy,
which she believes to be the expansion of Social Security and a move to ensure
that both employers and workers contribute to simple, affordable retirement
plans, such as Guaranteed Retirement Accounts. America’s current do-it-yourself
retirement plan, which relies on 401(k) plans, is not working, and instead
leaves workers without access to employer plans, plus such plans have high
fees, poor investment choices, upside-down tax subsidies, and longevity risk.
ASA is pleased to offer this latest issue
of Generations, which will reach ASA members and subscribers in
late September through October 2019. Single copies of the issue can also be
purchased from our website.
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