A couple of weeks ago Labour was harping on about raising the retirement age. The same thing is happening in Europe but is it really the right thing to do? I like many baby boomers have heard for the last 20 years that the developed world will have a huge bill to pay to support us in our dottage and we would have to expect some changes to the retirement age. Over the last few weeks I started to see that raising the retirement age is a two edged sword. Yes it helps governments manage their budgets but I suspect it is also doing significant harm to the economic prospects of the generation 18-30 years of age. By raising the retirement age more baby boomers are forced to stay in work the result is younger people find they can't get promoted or worse can't get a job. In Europe it is now very common for people to get their first real job at the age of 30 years. Before that age they often have to bounce around in unpaid internships. Worse it is stifling young talent and frustrating them. As I see it what ever happens the yp=ounger generations are going to pay for the baby boomer demographic...either in taxes or lack of jobs and promotion. I half wonder if it might not be better to drop the retirement age back down to 60 ( and make it compulsory) take the financial hit while giving the following generations a fair chance at rebuilding the economy.
I would be interested in other thoughts on this.
I would be interested in other thoughts on this.
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