Mind & Meaning: Too old to work, too young to retire
Several people whom I know well are about to retire from work. They have either served the required number of years to quality for a full pension or have reached 65.
Some are eagerly awaiting the farewell party so they can turn to the next phase of their lives. This incorporates spending more time with family, taking up new interests or giving more time to the football club.
For them, work holds no further attraction and pales beside the joys and freedom that awaits them in active retirement.
Others, however, are less sanguine and speak with some nostalgia, and a touch of bitterness, that their usefulness and role in society is transmuting into emptiness.
Depression
Loneliness, the absence of camaraderie, coupled with the lack of meaningful alternatives to work and the perception of being relegated to a repository for the aged, can lead to crippling depression. A sense of hopelessness stifles any purpose life may have without the structure, and shackles, work provides.
A survey released by the Office of National Statistics in Britain recently identified trends that will worry those eagerly anticipating retirement and console those for whom it is a fate to be avoided.
It found more than 20pc of those in the 65-69 age bracket are "economically active" and working for at least one hour each week or if unemployed are actively looking for work. Among women the figure was 15pc.
It is possible to ascribe this to the economic demands of the recession, even on older people. But another explanation is highlighted in the report. This trend may be related, not only to the rising life expectancy among men and women alike but more importantly to the benefits of what has been called the healthy life expectancy and the disability-free life expectancy.
Whether one hankers for retirement or has a preference for continuing in the workforce, the news on these measures is good. From the age of 65 men can expect to have 10 years free from any limiting disabilities and 13 years as a healthy person.
For women the respective figures are 10.5 and 14.5 years. "I'm too young to retire" might be the apt response of a 65-year-old man or woman to this information.
But what about stepping aside to allow a smooth transition to new blood? Should the creativity of youth not be allowed to germinate? Have the young not got a right to earn a living and prosper as much as elders are entitled to have their experience cherished?
There will always be a tension between these competing perspectives and society to date has opted for the former. Ask any middle-aged person recently made redundant if they can compete with a younger person in the jobs market and the answer is a resounding no. But with the changing international demographic this trend is likely to be reversed.
Skilled
In Britain, 2010 is the first year the state pension for women has increased from 60 to 61, with a gradual increase to 65 over the next decade. This is not a move driven simply by the altruism of allowing skilled, reliable people to bring their strengths to the workforce. Nor is the motivation an admiration for the elderly.
Instead it is the changing demographics, affecting the whole of Europe, that make continuing in work a necessity after 65.
Europe, including Ireland, is an ageing continent. Replacing older employees is likely to be problematic due to the relative decline in the numbers of young workers. Furthermore, the ability of nations to sustain state pensions for its ageing population is another factor delaying retirement.
It remains to be seen what the position in Ireland will be in the years ahead, what with talk of raising the retirement age. Already many new employees are given contracts without any stated retirement age.
If workers are offered a choice then this could be a win-win scenario and the mental health problems that accrue post-retirement would disappear while also capitalising on the experience and knowledge of those who believe they are too young to retire.
- Patricia Casey
Irish Independent
