The Second-Career Society
Pension plans across America are in trouble, and the pain is only just beginning. The problem is simple: too many promises have been made to too many people, and the money is running out. Europe got to this point ahead of us, so we can to some extent see the options laid out for us. The short lesson is that it’s better to be Germany than most of the others. To some extent Germany’s (comparatively) strong economic situation stems from its success in tackling the pension problem head-on. Reforms are hard, but lying about the situation ultimately benefits no one. People need to accept that as life expectancies increase, working lives will also need to be extended. It isn’t realistic to expect that everyone can have twenty or thirty years of comfortable retirement at the end of their lives.
There is a glass-half-full way to see this. More life, more work and more health should be a good thing! Why should we be bemoaning the opportunity to do more things before we die? Now, it’s true that people tend to get tired of their jobs after two or three decades, which is presumably one reason why they fight so hard to keep the retirement age low. The call of shuffleboard may be less powerful than the desire simply to move on to something new. Perhaps what we need, then, is a second-career society, in which it is common for people to move on to a new career at some point in their fifties or early sixties.
There would be some obstacles, of course. New careers will mean retraining and lost experience. There will also be some awkward etiquette issues to resolve, since most jobs tend to move employees from more junior status towards greater seniority (and along with that, greater salary and benefits). People won’t want to start at the very bottom of the ladder when they start their second careers, although, I do have to note that it actually makes sense for older people to accept a cut in salary in exchange for pleasanter, less onerous duties. People need money the most when their children are growing up, so it isn’t really optimal for us to achieve our greatest earning power at 60.
In any event, I think all these problems are soluble. A 2-career working life is already common in some parts of society (e.g. the military) and I think expanding the practice could be enormously beneficial. It would help people to see longer working lives as an opportunity instead of a curse. It would make workplaces diverse in a way that’s actually useful, as people bring skills and expertise from their previous jobs. And, it could be part of a larger movement towards a different kind of workplace, in which less energy is invested in piling up useless educational credentials, and more in showing what you can do.
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Jun '10
Re: The Second-Career Society
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Apr '11
Re: The Second-Career Society
This is one of those things that an unbridled economy takes care of. Those who want to work will find ample positions because there is so much opportunity to make money. When I was working in the dot-com bubble (obviously an extreme example) we had 2nd and 3rd career people finding work in management because they were good at it and we had others who took up jobs roles that had never even existed before, simply because they were reliable and willing to work hard.
Apr '12
Re: The Second-Career Society
Yes, indeed. There's inevitably a lot of wasted talent and energy in a society where people pile on credentials to compete for a small number of desirable jobs, and where capable people are driven into early retirement because everyone just wants a chance to work. This is a sign that we need to deregulate and channel that energy more productively.
Dec '10
Re: The Second-Career Society
I agree with much of what you've said.
But you're preaching to the choir.
The 'too many promises' that have been made to 'too many people' can be summed up in two words. Government. Unions.
Most of the private, non-unionized companies I know have rather reasonable retirement plans where employees have contributed a substantial amount of their retirement investments, with perhaps some matching funds from the employer. Those plans aren't going broke.
I also agree that the problem is solvable. But only if everyone wants to solve it. When I look at the babbling loons/losers in Wisconsin, and when I see some of Obama's campaign ads, I'm not sure that everyone DOES want to solve it.
As Rob Long pointed out in another post, Barack Obama thinks it's a PROBLEM that government is getting smaller, and he doesn't like the fact that government workers might have to hew to the same standards as the private sector when it comes to pension and health care contributions. He, and his minions (calling Joe Biden), are going to fight this every step of the way.
How do you change that mindset?
Apr '12
Re: The Second-Career Society
She, I think that's potentially one of the benefits of my second-career suggestion. Naturally, I also applaud the sort of realistic long-term planning that you mentioned. But there's a mindset problem. When people think that it's effectively the government's job to arrange for their perpetual comfort, from 65 until they die (quite likely 20-30 years later), every modest reform will be a battle. As we see in Europe.
We need to learn to see the upside. People are living longer! And staying healthy longer! Hooray! What interesting, fulfilling things might we do with those extra years? It seems reasonable that younger people should do the more physically demanding work (construction work, military service) while older people might thrive in jobs that draw on their longer life experience (e.g. teaching). Starting a second career could be exciting. Much more exciting than protesting the rising retirement age.
Aug '10
Re: The Second-Career Society
Trying to apply this to the highly specialized careers that are often most desirable, would you say that, for example, younger medical professionals should do the physically demanding work of nursing, while they gradually build up credentials to become doctors?
That would be a system quite different from what we have now. Honestly, I don't know if it would work. For one thing, being a doctor is often a physically demanding job, too -- and it demands the sort of alertness that even geniuses sometimes lose in older age. All I can say is that if I saw a doctor who got his MD later in life, I would prefer that he had spent his pre-MD years being a nurse than, say, a lawyer.
If that doesn't work... how common is it for the teaching staff of medical and law schools to be former professionals, rather than lifelong academics?
Aug '10
Re: The Second-Career Society
PS:
Rachel, I think your idea is a good one. I'm only wondering aloud how far it can be extended.
Apr '12
Re: The Second-Career Society
I like it. I changed careers eight years ago and it re-energized me.
Jan '11
Re: The Second-Career Society
I can't tell you how much I agree with this. First, if we replace the corps of mushy-headed teachers that we have now, we add by subtraction anyway.
Second, experienced people on their second career won't want to pass on any vapid nonsense - they're more likely to choose more practical, more down-to-earth, i.e., more useful teaching.
Third, a teacher's job is low-physical stress. But it tends to require a lot of emotional maturity to deal with kids. Experienced people are probably more emotionally balanced so they can handle any curve ball a snarky teenager throws at them.
And what are we to do with our current crop of 25-year old "education specialists?" I'm not sure, but when you have 25 year olds teaching and 65 year olds working in McDonald's ... something is awhack.
Great post, and great suggestion, Rachel!
Apr '11
Re: The Second-Career Society
As someone who is under 30 and works in education, KC's comment is exactly the problem I have with older people in education. The constant assumption that age=wisdom and that young people cannot possibly know what they are talking about so they have nothing to offer because they haven't had "experience". Well I've worked since I was twelve so I've got some experiences there. Also, I would love to see all these second career seniors work with the technology we are required to use along with being able to work with kids who have never known a world without it. I know KC means well but it's a little condescending towards younger people.
Edited on June 10, 2012 at 9:41pmApr '12
Re: The Second-Career Society
Teaching, childcare, bureaucracy, dozens of desk duty jobs... heck, even meter maid type things, or any other kind of "patrol" that can be done from some kind of vehicle.... ooh, vocational stuff, and mentoring stuff....
Apr '11
Re: The Second-Career Society
I would also like to add that I do think that some older people would be great in a classroom and could make some very valuable contributions. I guess what I am taking issue with is the implication that someone could just walk into teaching and be successful and relate to young people better than someone younger. Teaching is not a job that just anyone can do and it requires far more energy than most people realize. Us young whipper snappers can be very effective in a classroom as well, but in different ways than people who do not work in schools or have not attended one in 25 years understand.
Jun '11
Re: The Second-Career Society
At a certain crossroad, the point becomes moot.
When bond markets will no longer accept the paper we sell to finance our deficits, draconian cuts will be forced upon those who feed at the public trough.
It will be a period of debt destruction and a massive deflation will come along with it. This is, however, still America and it is my firm expectation that innovators and doers will lead us away from the train wreck.
Aug '10
Re: The Second-Career Society
Calm down, sir!
It's not an assumption that age = wisdom, and that young people cannot possibly know what they're talking about.
It's merely the observation that we do gain experience as we age, and it makes a nontrivial difference.
Aren't there things you wish your 25-year-old self could tell your 15-year-old self? Oh, there are so, so many, even for gifted, hardworking, knowledgeable teens. Now extend this observation over the decades.
If you're an emotionally-mature, broadly-experienced, and highly-skilled young person, just imagine how wonderful you'll be when you're older and even more experienced!
That's all.
Edited on June 10, 2012 at 10:04pmApr '11
Re: The Second-Career Society
@MidgetQuite true. Sorry to seemingly fly off the handle but this is a particular sore spot for me since I am the only person in my building under thirty and one of a handful under 40 and we are somewhat marginalized. Also true that there are times when I'd like to slap 15 year old me in the head but also times when 28 year old me could take a cue from him as well. It would require an older person who is self-aware and self-reflective. And I know plenty of older folks who are making the same mistakes they made at 25. Please forgive my seemingly ranting tone the the last post.
Oct '10
Re: The Second-Career Society
As an occasional science fictioneer, I'd like to suggest a solution to the baby-bust pension crisis that you won't see in the conventional wisdom media. While the mean human lifespan at birth has increased dramatically in the last few centuries, the maximum lifespan has barely budged since the beginning of history—it's just that many more people make it to threescore and ten or fourscore than before. Jeanne Calment seems to have come close to the limit set by telomere erosion of around 125 years.
It now seems entirely plausible based on research presently in progress that within the next 20 years it will be possible to activate telomerase and eliminate the telomere constraint and stimulate mitochondrial production and activity, which is why pigeons, who have about the same body mass and metabolic rate as rats, live ten times longer.
A conservative expectation from these two developments would be a mean human lifespan of around 160 years, with health at age 140 comparable to people of 60 years today.
Suddenly we speak of second, third, and fourth careers, and the enterprise of the aged funding a reborn society.
Apr '12
Re: The Second-Career Society
Just so you know, Michael, I'm a youngish teacher myself (part-time, at the university level), so I certainly didn't mean to imply that young people can't teach. And of course, there are many, many different kinds of teaching. Probably most 60-year-olds would have trouble walking out of an adult workplace and into a kindergarten classroom. And for some the technology might be a hindrance, although I can't say my teaching requires me to be extraordinarily tech-savvy. I make power points and put things on Blackboard. I can use a search engine. That's about the extent of it.
I entirely agree with you that wisdom does not come automatically with age. Sometimes age just entrenches people further in their erroneous ways. Still, life experience is on the whole a beneficial thing to have in teaching. Communication and people skills are also good, and these are often honed over the course of many years. Also worth noting: older people have more natural authority. When I started teaching (in my mid-twenties) I quickly learned to "dress older" since this made it easier to command my students' respect.
Apr '12
Re: The Second-Career Society
I was going to say also to you, Midget Rattlesnake, that your comment demonstrates the kind of thinking we'd have to go through in order to make the second-career society work. I mentioned that younger people are more suited to physically demanding jobs, but there are other things they bring to the table as well. They tend to be more flexible in many respects; they have better reflexes and short-term memories; they learn certain things (such as languages, foreign or computer) more easily. And of course, if you've spent years learning a difficult and needed skill, it's silly to work construction for 20 years before using it.
So, let's just be intelligent about thinking these things through. Certain types of research grants should be given to younger people; it's pretty well established that major breakthroughs in physics and mathematics always come from people under 40. On the other hand, older professors often make excellent historians and literary scholars. Our brains and bodies work differently at different stages in life, and we (both individually and as a society) will thrive if we can focus on the things we're good at in each stage.
Nov '11
Re: The Second-Career Society
Perhaps part of it is bringing a new perspective into the second job- from outside the culture. Thinking of my dad who after he got us through school retired from his corporate (agric. related) job that was well-paid, but he hated. Went back to school and became a Jr.High science teacher. His age group in the school fussed (esp. admin.) because he was too strict, and refused to do 'sports' duty. However the kids voted him most favorite teacher. He went on to teach GED in a prison because of compassion. I was shocked this fuddy duddy (he was OLD- in his forties!) did this, and what a life lesson.
I should add the wiley guy also picked up retirement pensions, but that wasn't his main motive. Maybe public jobs should ONLY be for over 45 year olds (or so)...just thought of this partial solution (joke, sort of).
Edited on June 10, 2012 at 11:43pmMay '10
Re: The Second-Career Society
The huge, gaping hole in the proposition, along with the proposition of "raising the retirement age" is "who's going to hire you?"
Of the many jobs I interviewed for and didn't get, I don't know how many were because of age. I do know that one job I got it was only because the hiring manager absolutely insisted on hiring me against the blandishments of everyone else involved in the hiring process "he's too old."
Kesbar nails it: "an unbridled economy." In an expanding economy nobody cares about your age, color, orientation, race, creed, hat size, physical comliness; if you can do the job, "when can you start?"
In a contracted/contracting economy, good luck.
Meanwhile, amuse yourself by reading
http://www.johnnixdorf.com/Break_Room/TheRealReasonsYouDidntGetTheJob.pdf