Workers in Australia can retire from the workforce at any age they want to – the only major problem that they need to consider is whether they have enough savings or enough super to keep them going for the rest of their lives, in the absence of the aged pension – and herein lies the problem.
Currently the retirement age in Australia, whereupon retirees may qualify for an aged pension, is 65. By 2023 the retirement age will rise to 67 and to 70 by 2035. It’s great news that we are all living longer – and that’s the reason why the government is lifting the retirement age – but are we all physically capable of working till we are 70?
I have a lot of friends who are tradesmen and are in the 50’s and they tell me that the manual, physical part of their work is already starting to get quite hard for them to handle. So for some people that are in hard physical labour-intensive work, their bodies are worn out by the time they reach 50 or 60. Is asking them to work another 10 years till they are 70 a reasonable request? It’s not like they can all get a job in an office if they have been working on the tools all of their working lives.
I would like to see the retirement age lowered to 60 – and this does not mean that people that reach 60 would have to retire – it would be their choice. But if they chose to retire at 60 they would be eligible for the aged pension at that age.
I have read the reports that state that we cannot afford to pay the age pension for so long and that it is a huge burden on our national budget – but I can’t help but thinking that it would be nice if our senior citizens who have worked all of their lives and paid taxes for all of their working lives would have a choice when they reach the age of 60 – a choice that should only be made by them. That choice might be something like, “I am going to retire and take my age pension and see Australia, or go on an extended fishing trip, or just relax and enjoy myself”. Or it could also be, “ I am really enjoying going to work and I am going to stay in the workforce”.
On us not being able to afford to provide this choice I am thinking that for every person that retires from the workforce it also leaves a position or a job that needs to be filled by someone else. The person that fills that job may have been previously out of work.
It must be very disheartening for a young person these days to finish their schooling and not be able to get a job. Would it be a better place for us all if we allowed people who have worked hard all their lives and choose to retire, to allow them to do so at 60 and enjoy the fruits of their lives and to hand over the reins to our younger generation that may have been unable to find work but that want the stability that employment brings and that want to contribute to society?
Will this make a happier and more prosperous Australia for us all? Add your thoughts to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-Collar-People/1484400968442110
