> While the prospect of longer lives is a good thing, problems arise when a shrinking work force cannot foot the pension bill.
Not true.
In EU the retirement age is moving as population gets older. By 2040 retirement age could be around 75 years.
Not true.
In EU the retirement age is moving as population gets older. By 2040 retirement age could be around 75 years.
Work almost all your life.
No more grandparents taking care of children while parents work, decreasing the number of families that might have children.
Less open positions for young people.
Edit: An informative graph for the bleak jobs picture for young people this shift is creating in the US: http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/im...
One thing that would probably help would be much shorter work weeks.
3 of my 4 grandparents are now passed, and there is absolutely no way they would have been able to be a net asset in any actual profit driven and competitive enterprise while that age these days.
Sure they might have been able to do something 'helpful' like read to young children or some other volunteer-like job, but these types of pseudo employment require more time and energy from actual workers for coordination than the worth of the labor itself.
By mid 70's none of my grandparents had the technical abilities to perform adequately in a non-physical office position, nor the physical tenacity to work a more demanding service job. Very few 75 year olds I've met would be any different.
Of course this all is a moot point since we now have competition between millenials and 45 year olds in some industries. what makes anyone think there are jobs available for the very old, even if they could be productful?