..retire now if I want. If my daughter wasn't so young, I probably would've retired already:
Older and unappreciated: Workers over 50 face a rough time on the job
Forget the Great Resignation. The shakeup of Generation Z workers, seeking fulfillment and treating their jobs like a game of musical chairs, will sort itself out over time. They have their whole lives ahead of them to find something that fits.
The larger crisis is what to do with all the older-than-50 workers searching for gainful employment. This is one of the worst times to be a worker in the twilight of a career. Only half of Americans are steadily employed throughout their 50s. Last year, more than a quarter of workers ages 55 to 59 were out of the workforce, which meant that they didn’t have jobs to retire from.
COVID-19 exacerbated this trend, as millions of older American workers disproportiona tely lost their jobs.
Across the globe, full-time, stable employment that culminated in pensions has become a relic of the pre-pandemic past. In the United States, an increasing number of workers can’t afford to retire, not with inflation and uncertain retirement savings. Now, a worker must wait to age 70 to collect maximum Social Security benefits, and Congress is expected to discuss raising the age for Social Security eligibility next year.
It makes sense that people should be able to work longer to boost their retirement accounts. But many of those who need to work longer are unable to do so because they lose their jobs long before they reach retirement age and can’t find another one. So they effectively retire.
Inflation harms retirement prospects: Retirement dreams become nightmares for many older Americans as inflation soars
Multiple factors create challenges for older workers
The disappearance of stable employment with a living wage and benefits – once the driver of upward mobility – has added to growing inequality. Global crises like COVID-19, changing business models and emerging technologies have led to the rise of low-quality, temporary jobs.