Retirement age has been a hot topic in recent years. A number of people believe that retirement age should depend on occupation and should not be the same for
everyone. This essay will discuss both sides in detail and put forth the argument that the type of work should determine the age of retirement.
Having a common age offers some advantages. It simplifies the pension policy planning for governments because they only need to look at one criteria for
pension policy, and that is the number of people who will turn 65. If this age varied by occupation, the government's job would be a bit more complicated. Further, setting a single criteria, which is applicable to everyone, seems fair. However, is it really a fair system?
The concept of retirement age is based on the principle that human skills diminish with age and people are no longer employable beyond a certain point.
It certainly does not imply that people will become unemployable at the same time even though they work in different fields. Take the case of a 61 year old truck driver
who committed suicide because he could no longer drive 50 hours in a week, the minimum hours that were required to earn his salary. Moreover, a recent survey of workers in this profession highlighted a sharp increase in accidents for workers over the age of 60.
There has to be a job based approach to retirement. If one is employed in either of two kinds of jobs, they should be allowed to end their professional career early: jobs where skills diminish with age and jobs with high stress levels. Under the first category, there are truck drivers, oil field drillers while healthcare workers, psychologists, criminal investigators belong to the second group.
I believe that the kind of work one does determines the longevity of a career. One size fits all approach can not be applied. However, this age should be common across all identified occupations in order to keep things relatively simple for framing pension polcies, and yet allow people to end their work life
with dignity.
Retirement
age
has been a hot topic in recent years. A number of
people
believe that
retirement
age
should depend on occupation and should not be the same for
everyone. This essay will discuss both sides in detail and put forth the argument that the type of
work
should determine the
age
of retirement.
Having a common
age
offers
some
advantages. It simplifies the pension policy planning for
governments
because
they
only
need to look at
one criteria
for
pension
policy, and
that is
the number of
people
who will turn 65. If this
age
varied by occupation, the
government
's
job
would be a bit more complicated.
Further
, setting a single
criteria
, which is applicable to everyone, seems
fair
.
However
, is it
really
a
fair
system?
The concept of
retirement
age
is based
on the principle that human
skills
diminish with
age
and
people
are no longer employable beyond a certain point.
It
certainly
does not imply that
people
will become unemployable at the same time
even though
they
work
in
different
fields. Take the case of a 61 year
old
truck driver
who committed suicide
because
he could no longer drive 50 hours in a week, the minimum hours that
were required
to earn his salary.
Moreover
, a recent survey of workers in this profession highlighted a sharp increase in accidents for workers over the
age
of 60.
There
has to
be a
job
based approach to
retirement
. If one
is employed
in either of two kinds of
jobs
, they should be
allowed
to
end
their professional career early:
jobs
where
skills
diminish with
age
and
jobs
with high
stress
levels. Under the
first
category, there are truck drivers, oil field drillers while healthcare workers, psychologists, criminal investigators belong to the second group.
I believe that the kind of
work
one does determines the longevity of a career. One size fits all approach can not
be applied
.
However
, this
age
should be common across all identified occupations in order to
keep
things
relatively
simple for framing pension
polcies
, and
yet
allow
people
to
end
their
work
life
with dignity.