by michael kinsman
copley news service
From many perspectives, it is easy to dislike baby boomers.
This generation of 78 million Americans has thrown its weight around since the day the first boomer was born in 1946. And the girth of this generation has forced societal change and dictated others.
The same generation that helped us rethink civil rights, the role women play in our society and how we should raise our children, now is redefining work and retirement as the first of the generation hit 60.
“The Boomer Century,” a recent PBS documentary (and book by Richard Croker), tells us that just when we thought we might see the boomers take a back seat for the first time ever, they are once again flexing their might and this will have an impact on everyone else whether they like it or not.
Four out of five boomers intend to keep working in retirement, according to a Merrill Lynch retirement survey. So hopes that their retirement will open up jobs for younger workers are falling flat. Fair or unfair, this is the way it is, the documentary contends.
From 1967 to 1975, 8 million boomers entered the job market, or twice the number in the previous eight years. They put pressure on employers to be more accommodating of human needs in the workplace, and wanted their work to provide basic fulfillment in their lives.
“The idea that work was supposed to be fun is an idea that came with the boomers,” says D. Quinn Mills, a professor of business administration at Harvard University. “I think they thought life was supposed to be fun, which was very different from their parents and preceding generations which saw life as a duty and obligation.
“We bring to life and work an excitement and enjoyment that allows us to do it longer and better.”
Boomers are dogged by a cultural bias that suggests that people ages 40 to 60 are over the hill, or locked into their ways. But the attitudes boomers are showing toward work and retirement as they age indicate quite the opposite.
The Merrill Lynch study finds that boomers are unlikely to accept a life of either full-time work or full-time leisure in retirement. Cycling between periods of work and leisure are favored by 42 percent, while 16 percent prefer part-time work, 13 percent want to start their own businesses and 6 percent think they will continue working full-time.
This is in the face of great uncertainty about adequate security of pensions and escalating health care costs. The failure of private pensions, the teetering of Social Security’s stability and the fear of rising health care costs are playing a role in how boomers will define their retirement years.
Just think what would happen if all 78 million decided to leave the job market en masse? That’s a void we would never be able to fill.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California