There is a lot of talk about the percentage of elderly people in the population increasing as time goes on. It seems rational to suggest that they should stay in the workforce. Unless there is legislation to force young Australians out of the "desk" jobs and into manual labor, this will not happen.
As one gets older the body lets you down. You no longer have the stamina to keep going, on a production line for example. Persistent pain that you have to live with is also a problem. Chronic illness can only be treated, not cured. Where do you draw the line between keeping someone at work who is clearly sick or sending them home? When an elderly person says, "I can't do that anymore", maybe they can't.
If you are young good health is taken for granted. You heal quickly and continue to enjoy life. For many, to be old is to be sick. Medical specialists do refuse treatment to the elderly because it is seen as a waste of money, notwithstanding the fact that a new knee or hip would make life less painful.
The whole structure of society will have to change to keep the elderly employed. Young people have the feeling that a "mature" person should work as hard as an employee in their twenties. A significant proportion of the young believe that the assets of the elderly should be taken by the government and spent on them, even though retirees worked hard in their younger days to buy homes.
We will need a Star Trek world where people choose to work not for financial gain but to benefit others. Such a world is too utopian to be believed. It is not the elderly who need to change, it is the young. Respect and consideration of the elderly is not something the young understand.
✴ Technology by Ty Buchanan ✴
