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No 23 May 2004 Return of the Wrinklies
An article from "The Economist" of 17 January 2004, page 48. Why the old are rushing back to work?
BRITAIN'S labour market remains surprisingly robust. Unemployment continues to fall, reaching a record low of 4.9%; employment continues to rise. Most surprising of all, older people are grabbing the new jobs. Over the past year, the number of people aged 50 and over who are working has risen by 190,000. Because of declines in other age groups, that exceeds the total increase in employment of 186,000. Much of the growth is among people older than the state pension age-60 for women, 65 for men-where employment rose by 73,000. The trend towards early retirement has halted in Britain. Employment rates for people below the retirement age have risen markedly. For example, 71.5% of men aged 50-64 are now working, up from 65% in 1995. Since this age group has also been increasing in size as a result of the post-war baby boom, there has been a substantial increase in employment, from 4.8m in 1995 to 6.2m. Until recently, however, few people carried on working beyond the retirement age. Over the past decade or so, the employment rate for this group has remained stuck at around 7.5%. But in the past couple of years the rate has jumped to 9.2% (see chart). Almost a million people now work beyond the traditional retirement age. One reason is the tightening labour market. "Employers are facing skills shortages, so they are looking to retain older workers," says Sam Mercer, director of the Employers Forum on Age, which campaigns against age discrimination. Some companies such as the Nationwide Building Society have deliberately sought older workers for good business reasons. "Many customers prefer dealing with more mature and experienced people, and older workers tend to be more loyal and committed," explains Carol Hurst, Nationwide's head of personnel. Retiring early is no longer a cushy number. Companies have withdrawn provisions in their final-salary schemes allowing people to leave early on favourable terms. Older people saving for their retirement through money-purchase plans have been hit by falling annuity rates, caused by rising life expectancy and declining investment returns. The recent upsurge in people working beyond the retirement age is almost certainly linked to the bear market in equities from 2000 to 2003. "People simply can't afford to retire because of the fall in the value of their funds," says Deborah Cooper of Mercer, a pension-consultancy firm. The return of the older worker points the way to solving Britain's pension problems. The House of Lords committee on economic affairs-whose members are aged 50 to 95-advocated raising the state pension age in a report published on January 10th. The government should take its august advice.
10 Dumbest Questions Asked By Cruise Passengers
The Many Faces of FearAnyone who has contemplated forsaking the perceived, if not real, security of employment to start a business has come face-to-face with the real possibility, as well as the dangers, of failure. Indeed, countless prospective owners discontinue their entrepreneurial pursuits for fear of losing too much-the risk being just too great. As an actual-or prospective-business owner, no doubt you've experienced these feelings. If so, congratulations, because believe it or not, in business, fear can be a good thing. Not paralyzing fear-the kind that comes when a person is ignorant of how to prevent or recover from a potentially dangerous situation. But rather the kind of fear that motivates you to take the necessary steps to be aware, knowledgeable, capable, prepared, decisive, and effective. The Many Faces Of Fear There is one thing about fear that is insidious: It's a shape-shifter, capable of appearing in many forms. The challenge for small business owners is to recognise fear in all of its shapes so we can be prepared to deal with it in a productive way. Here are some of the faces of fear, followed by what they might sound like. First on the list is the Big Daddy: unremitting, cold sweat, cottonmouth fear, in its default shape. Fear: "What if I can't cut it as an owner?" Fright: "What if I order all of this stuff and no one buys it?" Terror: "What if I'm buying the wrong business?" Panic: "What if my pricing for this bid is too high-or worse-too low?" Dread: "I hate having to fire an employee." Trepidation: "I don't think I will be able to get a business loan from the bank." Anxiety: "How will I ever be able to compete with the Big Box competitors?" Shock: "What do you mean our best customer has signed a contract with a competitor?" Fight Fear With Performance Performance is the best way to minimise-if not eliminate-these fears. But performance only happens when some other things are in evidence-I call them fear-fighting tools: awareness, knowledge, experience, training, planning, preparedness, decisiveness, and execution. Armed with the fear-fighting tools, fear becomes not only manageable, but actually can be the kind of productive stimulus that creates opportunities. But if you're short on any of these, the fear you feel is probably well founded and actually trying to give you good advice. In any of its many forms, fear can be an immobiliser or a motivator. The only way to make sure it's the latter is through performance, which comes by being armed with the fear-fighting tools.
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