Jordan Independent - Too Much Hype? - Comments

The Baby Boomer generation

goldengopher — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:12:07 -0600

The Baby Boomer generation started in 1946 after WWII. If people have historically retired at 62, what year will baby boomers begin to retire?

Listening to Tom Gillaspy, state demographer, in 2008 the baby boomers started retiring. Given the state of the economy and the stock market, most boomers are probably pushing back their retirement like Katrina mentions.

This massive number of people retiring is inevitable, and will have huge ripple effects on the economy. I would imagine the unemployment rate will significantly drop - and will drop in the next year or two. Employers will struggle to find workers, advancement opportunities will arise sooner, and companies may need to turn to technology to make up for the loss of quality workers.

If you look at Japan - who has a very old population, they are developing very sophisticated technology to provide help in lack of human labor - we may someday have robotic subway sandwich artists.

I hope the young subway employee uses the horrible manager as a growing opportunity for her and learns how to deal with difficult people. Her growth will help her immensely gain an edge over others.

I agree; that's a horrible

Katrina Styx — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:53:28 -0600

I agree; that's a horrible way to treat an employee.

The feeling I get from adults I've talked to who are thinking about post-career options is that there's enough uncertainty to make them doubt whether they are actually able to retire while maintaining some standard of living. The reaction, of course, is that many of them are not giving up their jobs, even if they technically could retire. I've often wondered if that freezes job mobility and causes a pile-up on the bottom end. Those who have been around for years are often at the top, and if they don't leave, no one moves up and no jobs open for entry-level workers.

Of course, I'll admit I have no evidence of this. It's just a question and a personal theory.

(Katrina Styx is a staff writer for the Jordan Independent. She can be reached at kstyx@jordannews.com.)

Too Much Hype?

elkes4 — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:01:51 -0600

I was recently at a Subway with my wife and we heard a conversation between the manager and a twent-teen who worked for him. The manager was informing the girl that he could make her work in any manner he wanted due to the economy being as bad as it is. The girl who was obviously upset stated that there were no jobs available and to this the manager added there were also no shifts available as all employees were working their shifts. I get sickened when I see abuses like this occur.