Quote:
Originally Posted by Robbie
I just looked that stat up. It was from May of this year. But what it actually said was:
"Over the decade, the number of jobs held by older workers increased by 6.6 million. Over half of this increase - 3.4 million or 52% - was in bad jobs, defined by low wages"
So in the last TEN years more older workers have held jobs (probably because we are living longer and longer and people are healthier in their old age). And of THOSE jobs...52% are low wage.
Which means that they are using them to supplement their Social Security.
You can look at it two ways:
1. "Oh those poor OLD people still having to work at Walmart"
or
2. Older people who don't WANT to sit in a nursing home and want to be out amongst people doing work and feeling useful.
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Here is the story I was reading. It is from a year ago so things have changed some, but it isn't just that these lower paying jobs are being held by older people, it is that these are the kinds of jobs being created.
Older people continuing to work adds to the problem because it makes the pyramid top heavy with less room for people at the bottom in these starter jobs to move up. My friend's dad intended to retire in 2010 at the age of 64. In 2008 the recession destroyed his retirement account so now he finds himself 72 and still working. He will likely retire in two years at 74.
As I have said, I'm not saying all this makes flipping burgers at McDonald's worth $15/hr but it explains why older people are staying at these lower paying jobs longer because it is getting harder and harder to move up the ladder.