The boneheadedness of the average MBA, and the harm the breed has done to the American economy, can never be overstated. And yet the Media Village courtiers will never stop attempting to polish the turd, per the Washington Post/Bloomberg:
… Many industries find themselves in a quandary. They often need older workers for their expertise, yet they also may need to accommodate their physical disabilities and their desire for more flexible schedules. And as workers stay on the job longer, they may need training in new technologies or work procedures.
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In the past decade, the number of seniors in the labor force has grown nearly 60 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By 2018, the number of workers 65 or older is projected to climb to 11 million, from 6.5 million today.
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Baby boomers are fueling the trend. Healthier and better educated than any previous generation, many plan to continue working, at least part time, well past traditional retirement age. Human resources managers say voluntary retirement nearly stopped after the stock market collapse in 2007.
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“When do people choose to retire?” asked Karen Smith, a senior researcher at the Urban Institute. “When they are able to replace their income.” …
Ya think?
Actually, it’s worth reading the whole article, just to watch every quoted expert dance around the very real problem for workers in every age group — the old pharts limping around gulping painkillers because they’re terrified of losing their group insurance, the twenty-somethings who can’t get the hands-on training they need because companies won’t invest in new workers, and the sandwich generation stuck in the middle and terrified of having to support both their parents and their adult children. But, hey — the most recent quarterly profits look just great, and top management’s looking forward to another record-breaking round of bonuses! Besides, everyone knows it’s the deficit that’s really keeping American workers awake at night… that, and the heartbreak of knowing that some small, shrinking percentage of their fellow workers are still trapped under the onus of free-market-resistant unions.
Humans Stubbornly Refuse to Become Interchangeable CogsPost + Comments (108)