Americans Must Work After Age 50 If Not Independently Wealthy

In some nations, workers retire at age 50 or 55, but this is not generally true of America outside of some government positions and the wealthy.

While some individuals ask whether it is practical to begin a new line of education or a new career after the age of 50, the fact is that the American people in general may have no choice but to do so. This article will discuss workforce and healthcare trends among Baby Boomers and compare them briefly with those of the Millennials.

In short, since Boomers and Millennials are living longer on average than the Greatest Generation, they will likely need to work for a longer number of years overall and plan more thoroughly for adequate healthcare in their later years. The Millennials can watch what happens to the Boomers and realize that there will likely have at least 3 careers in their lives (some will require return to a vocational school or college) and live past the age of 80, without enough healthcare unless certain measures are taken.

The fact is that NURSING is a booming occupation and will continue to be so through the year 2100 and lots of nurses are retiring in 2008. Many men and women over the age of 50 are going to school to become certified in a 1-year or 2-year or 4-year program of nursing. Other occupations and their training programs are seeing the entry of older workers as well.

One non-union construction company in Central Ohio reduces the hourly wage of each person age 50 and older by 2% every year, until State Minimum Wage is reached (it is higher than Federal Minimum Wage). Then the older individual is laid off and not rescheduled or, more often, terminated from employment in this at-will employment state.

A well known butchering and meat packing facility in town has reinstated injured workers at increasingly lower wages on each reinstatement, until certified Total Disability for SSDI has been reached by the workers. Sometimes, they die before that can collect SSDI. Many of these individuals have been workers aged 40 to 60 and a large number of them are Baby Boomers.

American Welfare Reform and Workforce Development at the federal level, on down to the smallest unincorporated area in the US during the 1990s, reached down into Kindergarten and began teaching the children that everyone must work.

This was a reform measure to prevent future generations form applying for welfare and other subsidized benefits. Under the Reagan Administration, all subsidized medical and income benefits became more closely attached in order for cost-saving scrutiny, with the result that many individuals were removed from the Social Security Disability Income and related rolls and relieved of their income.

Further, it became almost impossible for individuals under the age of 55 years (at least in my state) to qualify for SSI/SSDI, but some younger folks aged 21 received full disability income for the condition of drug addiction.

Even after the age of 55, many qualifying individuals were forced to hire an attorney to fight for Workers Compensation, Social Security Disability, and other benefits and pay the attorney one-third of the lump sum back pay received. These folks are often called in by the government for yearly re-evaluation in order to determine if a lower level of benefits are more appropriate. People in Ohio have been removed from benefits because they were still physically capable of having sexual relations with a spouse.

Many people feel that the system there is a “search and remove” strategy applied in order to reduce costs.

Education requirements became bound to receiving benefits from SSI/SSDI, public assistance/welfare and even Worker’s Compensation benefits. If one was a high school drop out, one could not receive this brand of income unless enrolled in GED classes and making documented progress with documented good attendance. In this case, the plight of the 50+ high-school or middle-school drop out adult in the 1990s that was down sized was largely to 1) start a new education and 2) agree to accept new employment. In the late 2000’s this had extended to the general working class of people at all levels of America. Unless independently wealthy or supported financially by another person, people must 1) work, 2) often switch careers when down sized or companies close, or 3) go “back to school” for additional training to be able to work again for many more years, as discussed below. As of the year 2000, American workers experience an average of 3 separate careers in a lifetime.

Underemployed or unemployed Americans in the 1990s could benefit from training assistance dollars offered by the Private Industry Council across the nation. Numerous workers of all ages 18 - 60 returned to the classroom for additional certification and diplomas with which to return to work during these years. In the 2000s, these programs were absorbed by the county Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs), listed under the government listings in the local telephone directory. Special training programs and job matching assistance for workers over age 50 and over age 55 are in place.

In the 1980s, the American Psychiatric Associations manual of conditions (DSM-III) ruled that changing jobs more than one every 3 years was a manifestation of a personality disorder. In the years of the rise of the Dot.com Industry and IT professions in to he 21^st century, this is no longer the case; people switch jobs and careers often in America, in general. Therefore, it is not impractical or “weird” to start a new education or career at age 50+.  In fact, I have known people 70 years old that returned to school and then successfully entered and maintained careers. One woman at a Central Ohio insurance company worked until the age of 80.

People age “50+” in 2008, specifically the Baby Boom Generation, were born from 1945 – 1964. In 2008, they were approximately to 44 - 63 years old.  The oldest of this cohort was able to retire at age 62 in 2007 with partial Social Security benefits; able to receive full benefits at age 65 if they waited and worked to that age. However, in 2008 America, the age of full retirement benefits under SS has already advanced to 67. The government plan in the 1990s, which I was privy to through university and medical channels as well as the National Institutes of Health and other federal government agencies, was to gradually increase the age of full retirement benefits to age 75 years. In 2008, America had only 8 years to go. For myself, working until 75 is not problem at all, but for others, it is impossible.

At the same time, there has been a movement in the US legislative branch to push for eliminating health care benefits for Americans age 75+. In 2008, it became standard practice to refrain form administering certain medical tests to individuals aged 75 and over, and some of this restraint is logical and sensible. In fact, because medical tests are often high-cost, some testing is unnecessary and used to some degree by some practitioners in order to increase the “average sales” of a medical visit. Common sense must prevail.   

An investigative reporter found that she could not survive o Federal Minimum Wage, even with only the barest necessities purchased. Employers feel that minimum wage jobs are starter jobs that workers should "be promoted out of" into higher paying work.

A misconception of this generation as a whole - held by a portion of Americans and globally as well - is that the Baby Boom Generation was/is a group of people that became Hippies that worked against America, sold out to the Establishment to become Yuppies (young urban professionals) and then proceeded to indulge in Conspicuous Consumption until they died stupid, fat, and wasteful.

The fact is that blacks and women of this cohort born from 1945 – 1960 (most of the Generation, actually) were largely the targets of vile discrimination and denied jobs and educational opportunities, especially in the Midwest and South. Women/blacks that were intelligent (“too smart”) were often the most discriminated against. In 2008, there is a large segment of women ages 50+ that have been laid off work or downsized, and cannot find any type of employment, no matter how effectively they apply and interview, no matter how many hours they put into it, and no matter how high their qualifications (“overqualified”). They (1000s of them) are barely consuming ANYTHING, let alone conspicuously consuming in the manner of the Semi-Homemade cook on Food Network that throws tons of food and plastic baggies away to the landfill, or of a male chef that tells audiences that $8.99 a pound is not too much to pay for meat in 2008.

The women of which I speak do not qualify for any subsidized benefits whatsoever, because they have no children under age 18 at home and suffer no disabilities. They can, however, receive 3 days worth of free food monthly from local food banks, if the food banks have any food (many ran out frequently in 2006 - 2008). I have checked this by visiting the appropriate offices in a selection of cities in Michigan and Ohio and interviewing staff. I also followed two childless unemployed individuals through the system – one unmarried woman aged 24 and one married and permanently injured, aged 57. The former was turned down for all help, even Workforce Training.

The latter, whose husband was injured and works part-time, received $130 in food stamps for one month and was asked to return the money after she had purchased the food – she and her husband did not have it. The government later recovered it from her husband’s meager wages, without warning. This couple continues to seek educational and employment possibilities. Unfortunately, with a refinancing of their home ate age 60, they cannot make the mortgage payments if they retire.

The horror stories for the over-50 population and those of all ages lacking healthcare in America are legion. Read Fast Food Nation and Nickel and Dimed to learn more about that.

America’s Millennial Generation (b. 1980 – 2000) may suffer the same brand of indignities and injustices as the Boomers, unless government and society in America are radically changed. The Millennials are about the same size cohort as the Boomers amd can look forward to a lifespan of 80-85+ years on average, but if they must work to age 75 and lose all possibility of healthcare at that age (even if they pay for it themselves), what kind of life will that be?

Starting a business of one’s own and/or beginning sound financial investing that provides enough income for travel outside the US for healthcare in older age may be the best option.