Member-only story
We’re Retiring Later Than Ever. That’s Great News for Companies.
When employees stay in the workforce longer, businesses have access to a larger, more experienced applicant pool
One of the most significant economic and demographic trends throughout almost the whole of the twentieth century was a drop in the retirement age. Beginning after World War II and accelerating through the 1960s and 1970s, this trend led to a dramatic decline in work among those aged 55 to 69.
But earlier retirement soon went from being the hallmark of a fully industrialized economy to becoming a public policy conundrum. Larger populations retiring sooner meant that pensions had to be paid over a longer period, which put greater strain on social security systems. The economy also had to forgo potential output that would have been produced if retirees had kept working for just a few more years.
Some systems create a financial incentive to delay retirement and continue working beyond the official retirement age.
Finding ways to get citizens working longer was a policy imperative that preoccupied politicians, economists, and gerontologists (those who study aging) for decades. But then suddenly, in the…
