World’s Workers Will Need To Retire At Age 80?

There are times when I have a few free moments that I will ‘surf the net’ and see what headlines grab my attention.  I was doing this last week when I came across this headline “AIG’s Benmosche, Speaking From His Seaside Villa, Says World Will Need To Retire At 80” which was posted on www.zerohedge.com.  Mr. Benmosche is the CEO of AIG, a worldwide insurance and financial services company.  During an interview he was quoted as saying, “Retirement ages will have to move to 70, 80 years old” as that “would make pensions, medical services more affordable… taking the burden off of the youth.”  If economies of the world continue to decline and that prediction proves correct in the near future the impact of this on companies and communities would be significant—financially and socially.

Already we are seeing an increase in the average age of the American workforce.  In 1978 it was 28 years old and in 2008 it was 40.6 years old.  Companies are making changes to their work environment to accommodate older workers, typically meaning those in their 50s and 60s but do those changes go far enough to keep workers in their 70s and 80s productive, healthy and safe?  The physical and cognitive abilities of a person in their 50s is definitely different from those in their late 70s/early 80s.  A recent article I wrote describes some of the changes that occur as people age as well as the modifications workplaces should consider to accommodate their aging workforce.

What do you think?  Are we as a world, community or company prepared for aging workers?  Are there jobs that workers over a certain age can’t or shouldn’t do?  On what basis should those decisions be made?  What can/should be done to keep those of any age, but especially greater than 60 years successfully working as long as they need or want?