These days, the life expectancy at birth in 2020 has doubled to 71 years as compared to 1900 which was only 32 years. With new technology and better hygiene in our daily lives, people have exceeded their life expectancy compared to their older ancestors, with many able to live until their 80s. This led the government to raise the retirement age considerably. While this decision is understandable, this raises much outrage from the people.
To begin with, even though statistics say that life expectancy has increased, it doesn’t mean longer productive years. It is expected that most productive years are between 20-60 years, with the average retirement age being 63 for women and 65 for men. Increasing the retirement age will cause the elderly who already past their productive years being forced to work more to sustain life, putting their health and safety at risk. Furthermore, it limits the younger, more productive teenagers to get a job because most employment spots have been taken by the elderly, causing more underemployment.
However, there are benefits from this decision. If the retirement age gets increased, companies can hold the older employees longer as elderly tend to have more experience in their work. Older employees also require less resources than the younger, more productive teens hence the reason why companies tend to have more older, experienced workers than younger ones.
To sum it all up, while having more older, experienced worker would benefit companies more, raising the retirement age will risk the elderly’s health and safety, while also increasing underemployment for the younger, more productive worker who has more energy than the elders