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Will 35 Year-Old Adolescents Join the Workforce?
By Richard Nantel | August 7, 2007
(Still on the subject of an aging workforce) The Coming Death Shortage, written by Charles C. Mann and published in The Atlantic Monthly, examines the possible effects of increased human longevity on society.
According to Mann, “From religion to real estate, from pensions to parent-child dynamics, almost every aspect of society is based on the orderly succession of generations.”
This is now changing.
We continue to live longer. Life expectancy in the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century was 47. The 2006 Canadian census reports the average lifespan at 83 years for women and 77 for men. Most scientists predict this trend in greater longevity will continue. (A few scientists, including Ray Kurzweil, even believe that the rate of technological progress is accelerating so quickly that, barring accidents and catastrophes such as severe changes to our planet, many of us we’ll be living hundreds of years. Technology will simply be advanced enough to cure many common diseases.)
Looking at the effects on the workforce, the predictions are fascinating:
- Older people will be living longer, healthier, more active lives.
- Many will be financially secure.
- Younger people will need to wait longer to inherit the estates of their departed parents.
- When the young do inherit, the estates may be smaller because the parents lived significantly longer and depleted their savings.
- Lower levels of financial inheritance means less money in the pockets of young people to buy a house, start a business, invest, etc.
Mann’s article predicts a world where many young people are poor, alienated, and probably more than a bit angry at older people, many of whom continue to fill the most lucrative jobs and stubbornly refuse to die and pass on their wealth.
Faced with low prospects for success as traditional adults, as well as high taxes to support old-age benefits of retired boomers, Mann predicts that adolescence will continue well into the mid-30s:
““In a kind of wanderjahr prolonged for decades, young people will try out jobs on a temporary basis, float in and out of their parents’ homes, hit the Europass-and-hostel circuit, pick up extra courses and degrees, and live with different people in different places.”
According to this article, we’re already seeing this trend in some parts of the world:
“In Japan, ever in the demographic forefront, as many as one out of three young adults is either unemployed or working part-time, and many are living rent-free with their parents. Masahiro Yamada, a sociologist at Tokyo Gakugei University, has sarcastically dubbed them parasaito shinguru, or “parasite singles.” The British Prudential financial-services group has named people “kippers“—”kids in parents’ pockets eroding retirement savings.“These young adults seem to be saying, “if you continue to refuse to grow old and die, I’m going to refuse to grow up and live the life of a traditional independent adult.”
Faced with an impending shortage of workers, organizations are looking for their future leaders. Based on Mann’s predictions, it’s going to be tough to find those leaders among the younger generation, many of whom will refuse to commit to traditional careers until later in life.
Topics: Aging, Learning, Talent Management |
