Provocative title, I know, but really, my point is that older workers are a benefit to businesses and the economy overall and we should do everything we can (especially in an ageing society) to keep older workers in the workforce for as long as possible.
How about a simple tax incentive for pensioners. If I went out to work my marginal tax rate would soon enter the 40% rate. I have a full state pension and a modest sipp, so why should I work, only to give a big part of any job to HMRC? With maybe 15 years left to me, the prospect of two days* work for nothing will never float my boat. *40% of a week.
UK (like many other places) has far to low state pension age.
The proper thing to do would be to raise this by a large amount. This will probably not happen because even a small increase will cause political turmoil.
We're stuck with a mentality of who is "old" and deserving a state pension formed before the First World War. Since then life expectancy has shot up so we need to change our minds.
I should add that I, along with many retiree's am not work-shy. I volunteer as a trustee x2, club chairman, lodge charity steward and hospital volunteer. None of this activity is "measured" by government but I believe makes a real difference to the wealth and wellbeing of the nation.
Spain is far ahead of us in so many ways. I'd wager it starts with ideology. Here in Germany, if somebody >64 is working, all they get is pity / judgement ("what went wrong in your life that you still have to work at that age?". Or even more ridiculous, "you are stealing a job from a younger person who needs it more".) Whereas in Spain, working means you're a part of society, you're helping somebody out, you've still got that spunk.
Whither the correlations? Spain has the highest longevity in Europe, and a large percentage of crusties in employment. I'd say work helps keep one young and fit.
With Europe's collapsing birth rates in mind i'd say 'Grandpa' is the most provocative element of the title.
And where's Grandma?
She's going to live longer than Grandpa...
And if Grandma will be left off the hook by the UK gov (compare: in the Netherlands it's very common for childless 22 yo females entering their first job after college to only work monday, tuesday and thursday. Employers, our welfare state and the broader society are fully geared up for this model), how many 'modern' - nuts nuts, you know what i mean - Grandpa's will spontaneously identify as Grandma's...
I retired early from my industry when my employer was acquired. Long work hours, long commute times and lack of part-time options meant that finding a replacement wasn't attractive. I had a choice, but many do not.
I wonder if different patterns of home ownership between ES and UK help explain the difference. If you had your mortgage paid off why would you go back to work? We know from global engagement figures, only 15% of the work force are engaged which means 2/3rds are either not engaged or disengaged. Why the heck would you work if you didn't need to?
I agree that it would be good for both society and for the economy if older workers were to stay engaged in the labour force for longer, and the rationale for why, in the UK, they do not seems plausible. It is logical that steady (larger) increases in labour participation offer a tailwind for Spanish GDP growth that the UK does not enjoy due to its lack of similarly large increases. Finally since participation rates remain higher in the UK than in Spain it may be that further incremental improvement is easier to make in Spain.
I'm not sure the comparison data with Spain is quite as compelling as it might seem at first glance, suffering in my view from distortion in the way the graphical data is presented. The graph showing labour participation between 2019-2024 plots UK and Spanish data on very different scales, always a red flag.
In 2019 UK participation was c54.4% rising to c55.6% by 2024 - so still increasing on a long term trend, for example it was just 40% back in 2000. The large transient increase in UK participation rate in 2020, and its subsequent fallback over the next two years, must surely be the consequence of furlough payments/uncertainty causing workers to delay their retirement.
By comparison Spanish participation in 2019 was c45.5%, rising to just c50.7% by 2024. We can safely say that Spanish participation levels are slowly closing a longstanding gap, but they still have some considerable way to go before reaching UK levels.
None of this quibbling changes the conclusion however - increasing labour participation is a good goal, especially if it can be supported by improvements in public health.
How about a simple tax incentive for pensioners. If I went out to work my marginal tax rate would soon enter the 40% rate. I have a full state pension and a modest sipp, so why should I work, only to give a big part of any job to HMRC? With maybe 15 years left to me, the prospect of two days* work for nothing will never float my boat. *40% of a week.
UK (like many other places) has far to low state pension age.
The proper thing to do would be to raise this by a large amount. This will probably not happen because even a small increase will cause political turmoil.
We're stuck with a mentality of who is "old" and deserving a state pension formed before the First World War. Since then life expectancy has shot up so we need to change our minds.
You know which country has recently raised the pension age to 70? Italy.
My flabber is gasted.
Italy has made a sensible financial choice!
I should add that I, along with many retiree's am not work-shy. I volunteer as a trustee x2, club chairman, lodge charity steward and hospital volunteer. None of this activity is "measured" by government but I believe makes a real difference to the wealth and wellbeing of the nation.
Spain is far ahead of us in so many ways. I'd wager it starts with ideology. Here in Germany, if somebody >64 is working, all they get is pity / judgement ("what went wrong in your life that you still have to work at that age?". Or even more ridiculous, "you are stealing a job from a younger person who needs it more".) Whereas in Spain, working means you're a part of society, you're helping somebody out, you've still got that spunk.
Whither the correlations? Spain has the highest longevity in Europe, and a large percentage of crusties in employment. I'd say work helps keep one young and fit.
With Europe's collapsing birth rates in mind i'd say 'Grandpa' is the most provocative element of the title.
And where's Grandma?
She's going to live longer than Grandpa...
And if Grandma will be left off the hook by the UK gov (compare: in the Netherlands it's very common for childless 22 yo females entering their first job after college to only work monday, tuesday and thursday. Employers, our welfare state and the broader society are fully geared up for this model), how many 'modern' - nuts nuts, you know what i mean - Grandpa's will spontaneously identify as Grandma's...
I retired early from my industry when my employer was acquired. Long work hours, long commute times and lack of part-time options meant that finding a replacement wasn't attractive. I had a choice, but many do not.
I wonder if different patterns of home ownership between ES and UK help explain the difference. If you had your mortgage paid off why would you go back to work? We know from global engagement figures, only 15% of the work force are engaged which means 2/3rds are either not engaged or disengaged. Why the heck would you work if you didn't need to?
I agree that it would be good for both society and for the economy if older workers were to stay engaged in the labour force for longer, and the rationale for why, in the UK, they do not seems plausible. It is logical that steady (larger) increases in labour participation offer a tailwind for Spanish GDP growth that the UK does not enjoy due to its lack of similarly large increases. Finally since participation rates remain higher in the UK than in Spain it may be that further incremental improvement is easier to make in Spain.
I'm not sure the comparison data with Spain is quite as compelling as it might seem at first glance, suffering in my view from distortion in the way the graphical data is presented. The graph showing labour participation between 2019-2024 plots UK and Spanish data on very different scales, always a red flag.
In 2019 UK participation was c54.4% rising to c55.6% by 2024 - so still increasing on a long term trend, for example it was just 40% back in 2000. The large transient increase in UK participation rate in 2020, and its subsequent fallback over the next two years, must surely be the consequence of furlough payments/uncertainty causing workers to delay their retirement.
By comparison Spanish participation in 2019 was c45.5%, rising to just c50.7% by 2024. We can safely say that Spanish participation levels are slowly closing a longstanding gap, but they still have some considerable way to go before reaching UK levels.
None of this quibbling changes the conclusion however - increasing labour participation is a good goal, especially if it can be supported by improvements in public health.