Janet CollinsMaking Us All Work Longer
August 2nd 2009 21:35
Sometimes you wonder how governments come out with policies and regulations that just don’t make any sense. The reason is probably that most of these are put together by people who sit behind a desk and have very little real knowledge of the world outside.
Back in May, the Australian Government raised the pension age from 65 to 67. There’s been a lot of debate about this since and only last week, former Howard Government Minister Tony Abbott weighed into the debate saying the pension age should be raised to age 70.
It is no secret that our government has done this solely because there are just too many heading for retirement and the government coffers won’t be able to afford the cost but there are a lot of factors they have not taken into account.
First there are very different types of jobs and the ones that are involved in manual labour are much harder for an older person to do, let alone do it for five or more full days a week.Treasurer Wayne Swan admitted this after the initial announcement. Almost as a vote of sympathy, he confessed that blue collar workers would find it tough.
Tough is an understatement. Many workers who have spent their whole working life in manual work have often felt the wear and tear on their bodies long before retirement age. They have often also began working at a much younger age. This not only adds to physical pain the long working life has caused but also affects an ability to perform a job properly. That in itself makes it pretty difficult to hang on to a job anyway.
Working in a white collar job is far more suited to a longer working life and many in jobs such as these do tend to work on longer anyway. Even then there is always a tendency for employers to seek out younger workers in preference to older ones.
It is true that we are all living longer now anyway so at 67 or even 70 we are much younger than many were decades ago. It is also true that Australia has become very ageist over these last few decades which is something that jeopardises an older persons job prospects practically anywhere. Ask anyone over 40 who has searched for work and you will generally hear that it gets tougher and tougher to find work no matter how skilled or education you are.
Even Centrelink has different rules for job seekers once they turn 50. That has to confirm that securing work even at middle age is difficult enough. How on earth would someone find work who is older than that?
Before our government introduces policies or regulations such as this one, it really needs to address society’s attitude to older workers and it needs to give incentives to employers to employ them. Otherwise, instead of being on the pension these older workers will just end up on the dole-queue.
What do you think? Should we all be expected to work until we are 67 or older?
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Comment by Jason King
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Comment by Janet Collins
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From my observation most of the people who tend to work way past the official retirement age fall into a few categories.
First there are the ones in high powered positions who either stay in the top job or start filling up their weeks by sitting on corporate or public sector Boards.
Then there are the creative types who are either writers, graphic artists or designers, photographers, actors, etc who just love what they do and continue to do it until they can't anymore.
Then there are the ones who just can't bear to leave a job and leave all the respect and responsibility that comes with it. More often they are white collar workers, perhaps in sales or similar roles.
Most of us go to work to earn a living and some of us are lucky enough to be in a job that we love. I think the majority of people have had enough by the time they reach 65 and certainly if they have worked most of their life, they are entitled to some R & R by then.
Thanks for the visit and the great comment.
Comment by RubySoho
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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if he was on Orble i would have him Purged . . .
but seriously though, who keeps voting this lunatic in?
ultimately i believe old age should be determined by fitness and degeneration levels, each individual case is different, and some people need to retire from the workplace long before others
Comment by Janet Collins
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I think Tony Abbott has been a politician for so long that he has lost all touch with reality - that is, if he was ever in touch anyway.