Posted on 06/20/2004 2:51:20 PM PDT by qam1
THE Government is set to raise or abolish the retirement age of 65. People who choose to carry on working until they are 70 will be given full employment rights as Britain falls into line with a European Union directive.
The decision, in a leaked Cabinet paper reported in Sunday newspapers, could be announced within weeks.
The change will take effect in 2006. Some say it is a back-door way to force people to work longer and save the Government money in the face of a pensions crisis.
Business leaders are against scrapping the 65 retirement age.
CBI director Susan Anderson said: 'We don't see any need for change, although we do recognise that in the future we will need more people to work longer.'
Trade union leaders have warned that raising it to 70 could mean that more than 20% of people - and almost one third of men - will die before they receive their occupational pensions.
Research has shown that one in six people in England and Wales died before they reached 65 and a further 7% died before the age of 70.
Londoners, followed by those in the North West and the North would be the biggest losers.
Economists claim that ageing populations will bankrupt Western countries as a wave of post-war baby boomers reach retirement.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Many commentators tell us that we can solve the pensions crisis if we all work longer before we retire. But these figures show that many will have to work until they literally drop if the retirement age is increased to 70.
My dad was 59 or 60 when he was working as a driver for a construction company. They eventually laid him off. Rumor came down because they thought he was too old by the age on his driver's license. Actually, he was actually nine years older than the age on his license.
Jacqui. You've gotta quit playing so hard to get. You are discouraging possible suitors.
And I thought Americans weren't capable of irony... heheh.
Yes, I cannot retire until I am 67 and it keeps going up.
I thought so, and that means that Britain is just following our lead, right? At 67, isn't that like retiring at 62 now for early retirement, and regular is age 70?
I think it depends on one's birthday. They are slowly eeking it up. I am sure that my children will retire when they are seventy or eighty if the plan is still in effect.
We do have our rare moments.
""(You single?)"
Sorry, we celebrate our 46th anniversity tomorrow!"
DANG!!!
Mrs. Reed is one happy camper..... ;)
We already have this plan.
Wouldn't work in the US. If you're over fifty and in need of a job, fogeddaboudit. Working to seventy would mean holding a job until you're seventy in an era where there is no loyalty by the company to the employee, hence no loyalty by the employee to the company. Britain must be a different fish.
There's a distressing age discrimination in the US. People are forced (or strongly encouraged) to retire early. When they run for their lives (er, retire), they find that they'll never regain their former earning power. It's an adjustment. The younger folk will force us off the rolls, and then we'll find that our ability to compete in the workplace is sadly diminished.
Yeah! Back on your heads!
I once had the body of a woman half my age.
<]B^)
Sometime ago, social security sent out information showing what you would make in benefits including at age 70.
Well, I always say "You're only as old as the man you feel"... (which was a great line when I turned 25 and I was living with a 20-year-old.)
The combination of a jobless market and age discrimination forced me into an unplanned early retirement at age 59. It's a rough adjustment, but financially is working out just fine. My problem is I can feel the IQ points draining away without the workplace.
"I bet you've got the body of a man half your age."
I still have the same body as I did 50 years ago in high school (still wear the same size clothes) although i'm not quite as quick as I was at 40 but can still outwork 80% of them.
Even in the 40 years that I owned and ran a construction company I never gave up working physically. Since I closed the company I don't put in 12 hours a day 6 days a week any more, I cut it back to 8 or 9 hours 6 or 7 days a week.
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