80 NOT OUT!
 
I want talk about an earth-bound equivalent of ‘Houston, we’ve got a problem’. In the midst of the current debate about an ageing population, keeping older people in the work force, finding ways to fund the insatiable pension demands, and financing a creaking hospital system, one point really jolted me. The fastest growing age group is people aged 80 and over. That should not really come as a surprise with the advances in medicine and more knowledge about health and welfare.

A lot of people over 80 are still active and enjoying life immensely. I was in New York recently and TV star Barbara Walters was at the next table. She is 80 and still a regular on network television. My lunch companion explained: ‘80 is the new 60.’
 
There’s a touch of truth in that. And it will become more apparent as the Government urges older Australians to stay at work. But it is not as easy, or as simple, as it seems.
 
Since the Global Financial Crisis and the shrinking of superannuation nest-eggs many people are staying at work longer because they have to. They realise their retirement pot of gold is now merely gold plate or nickel and won’t keep them in comfort in their twilight years.
 
Is that producing a workforce full of resentful old people?  And, an ageing workforce means a less innovative workforce. Older workers are more conservative. Less likely to take risks. Less likely to embrace dramatic new ideas in a whiz bang world moving faster than anybody ever dreamed.
 
The other issue: For older people to stay in the work force employers have to want them. Will bosses be flexible enough to make allowances for age? And will younger workers itching for promotion be tolerant of age discrimination in reverse?
 
Young people leaving school or university, at the start of their careers, may not be tolerant of ‘all those old coots’ jamming up the top steps of the ladder. ‘Out of my way Granddad’.
 
It’s a complex world nobody has had to face before.  And governments need  equal doses of cleverness, clout and compassion to get there.
 
Selfishly, I’m 66 next week. I’m not going out to pasture for anybody.
 
Tuesday, February 2, 2010

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2010