THE WORKING ELDERLY 2
The Working Elderly
The purpose of this paper is to discuss why many elderly are either having to re-enter the workforce or stay employed in their current positions. This paper also discusses some of the economic, stereotypes, discrimination and gender discrimination issues working class elderly face in today's society.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, before the 1990's had been a decrease of employed elderly; but since 2007, there has been an increase that is expected to rise even more in the years to come (Perry & Perry, 2012). In 2007, when the stock markets crashed and the economy took a turn for worst that affected housing and government funding, retirements forced many elderly to have to return or stay in the workforce (Perry & Perry, 2012). They had to stay or return to the workforce because they could not afford to keep their current standard of living (Perry & Perry, 2012). Also, many of the older generations, also known as the "Baby Boomers," are having to raise their grandchildren. This reason alone has caused many grandparents to have to stay employed or to re-enter the workforce. One population within society is the working elderly, who are either sixty five or older. The
Census Bureau, (2010) predicts elderly, who are known as "Aging Boomers" will become dependent on others by 60% more than two years ago in 2010 (Caplan, 2014). (Caplan (2014), denotes that many individuals who are aged 65 or older, will probably also become what he termed "economically dependent" on others, especially if the elderly are not in the workforce (p.
18). For an example, someone’s elderly grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and possibly elderly neighbor, may become more dependent, on others or an organization for financial help than they were when they were in their earlier years. Some elderly, may become totally reliant on others at one point in your life. Their needs could include mental, physical, or some other form of
THE WORKING ELDERLY 3 dependency (Caplan, 2014).
In general, one factor for elderly dependency is that they are living longer, than they did decades ago, one reason is they have access to better health care and newer technology (Caplan, 2014). American society as a whole has numerous economical hardships or difficulties within industries, populations, and the government (Caplan, 2014). Some of the economic challenges tend to lead and leave many of our aging populations into economic hardships and is some of the factors that lands them into living in poverty or dependency on others (Caplan, 2014). Many elderly women are forced to stay or re-enter the workforce due to income factors. One factor is their income is not sufficient enough to maintain their standard of living. Reasons could be that their husbands who were the sole bread winners have passed. Another reason could be that they had worked most of their life in a low-wage-earning position so their Social Security check is not enough to support them. The same goes for elderly men who had worked most of their lives but cannot afford to live just off their Social Security alone; therefore, they have to stay employed to survive. According to (Perry & Perry, 2012, p. 210), "Twenty percent of married elderly couples and about 41 percent of unmarried elderly age persons relied on Social Security for 90 percent of their income." Therefore, this situation throws many elderly women in to a position of needing help and often subjects them to poverty from low income social security checks.
However, the economic challenges are not the root of the elderly population’s problems or economic conditions, nor a reason the economy is in the financial shape it is in today (Caplan, 2014). Many people form opinions, or judgments, directed towards elderly who are 65 years of age or older, forming beliefs and views about the "Baby Boomer" generation (Caplan, 2014). Many believe