Unemployment and the baby boomers. (contractor, status, jobs, inflation)

[user_id]

Originally Posted by Jaggy001

They think they are entitled to promotion and great evaluations because we - the baby Boomers - have taught them that entitlement. All their lives they have had parents and teachers protecting their self-esteem, playing sports where everyone is a winner, where you don't fail exams but get "deferred success", etc. etc.

They think everything is a team effort because that is the way they are taught at school and how the courses are set up. They don't get taught how to work on their own any more Who created the courses? Yep ... you got it ... the baby boomers.

They expect fairness cos no-one ever taught them that the world is intrinsically unfair.

They value time off? Imagine not wanting to work 50 weeks a year and 80 hours a week.

They think the world revolves around them? Yep, it is their loving parents that organized and orchestrated every moment of their young lives that taught them that. We even have mothers calling our firm up asking for "lJohnnie's" schedule after we have just hired the 22 year old with his GPA of 3.5

What you are saying is primarily true of Generation-Y and Z, but not so much X. X grew up with very lax parenting and only the Xers on the younger end (like me) tend to have Boomer parents. Its funny though, my sister's kids are not even allowed to walk to the park down the street. Yet I was back in the mountains, biking around the entire city, etc when I was their age. It seems the younger boomers (so called Jones Generation) and the older Gen-X parents are the ones raising kids in the way you describe.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by Jaggy001

All the more reason for the kids to learn to do things the baby-boomer way

I can't stand the "boomer way" on many levels, that's one reason I work for myself. But, sure if you are in the position where you have boomer bosses you need to at least pretend to do things their way to make them happy...just like giving lip service to your parents.

But I hope the younger generations don't start really doing things the boomer way, I hope they go back to basics...do things the GI generation way.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by user_id

......... The issue seems to be that they don't want to give up certain things and they think they are forever young. Its sort of funny..

Who do you think you are deciding that your parents should give up anything? And why should they? Because you, with your so special education, so special sense of self worth and so special insight says so?
Maybe they should "give up" putting you in their will. Or "give up" paying off your college loan. That's what I'd call setting priorities for retirement.



I dragged the following back from something I posted several months ago and unfortunately is my experience with 90% of new hires. You know, your generation. FWIW I spent the last month of the school year cleaning up a mess created by "the smartest first year teacher we've ever seen. He'll be a VP next year". Well he won't be because the mess caused his firing which he still doesn't understand. And never will.

Be on time.
Don't take payday Fridays off.
The local NFL team playing a late game is not a reason to take Monday off.
Don't burn up your accrued leave then ask to "borrow" some.
If you are sick, call in to the proper person, don't make it a surprise.
Realize that the job doesn't revolve around: your college homecoming, your fraternity/sorority reunions, any drama you may be having in your personal life.
You will not get a promotion or consideration because you are new, you're also inexperienced.

This is from an educator's viewpoint but I think it spreads across all fields.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Who do you think you are deciding that your parents should give up anything? And why should they? Because you, with your so special education, so special sense of self worth and so special insight says so?

I believe my parents are being a bit neurotic, they are not accepting the reality that they are getting old. They also do stupid things financially, but trying to break their "why save it when you can spend it" Boomer attitude is rather difficult, especially when they are in their 60's.

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Maybe they should "give up" putting you in their will. Or "give up" paying off your college loan. That's what I'd call setting priorities for retirement.

I don't care about their will, I'd prefer that they spend the money on themselves. Plus, like many boomers I don't think they'll have much when when they die, they are going to need it when they get older and have to stop working, etc. Paying off my college loan? Since when do the boomers do that?!

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

....is my experience with 90% of new hires. You know, your generation. FWIW I spent the last month of the school year cleaning up a mess created by "the smartest first year teacher we've ever seen. He'll be a VP next year".

If he was a new hire, it was not in my generation. My generation is all 30+ now, you're talking about generation Y.

Generation X has a rather different attitude than Generation Y. Generation X is likely to give you slip service and appear to do things "your way", while stabbing you in the back when you are not looking. Generation Y, does not even bother with the slip service....they think how you do things is outdated and silly.

Generation Y and the Boomers just don't seem to mix well. Generation X, because they were raised around Boomers have learned to give them lip service and keep their thoughts to themselves. Many of the young 20 somethings have Generation X parents, not Boomer parents. Generation Y gives no lip service and generally will say what they think and have an attitude when they have to do something "stupid" and this annoys the Boomers to no end. Generation X and Generation Y tend to agree what is "stupid", but they just approach it differently.

[70Ford]

Originally Posted by user_id

The baby boomers as a whole seem to refuse to retire, or at least anytime soon. I wonder whether what effect this will have on the unemployment rate. From my experience with boomers, there seems to be a few reasons why they are avoiding retirement.

1.) Retiring means you're "old" and boomers want to believe they are forever young.
2.) Many have not saved enough for retirement and the crappy equity markets over the last decade (if you bought and hold over the last 10 years you would have not gained much) have made their projections rather inaccurate. As a result they must continue to work.
3.) Many seem to think that their lifestyle during retirement was going to be the same as when they were 50 something, on two incomes and had all the kids out of the house.
4.) Many kept moving up in the housing market as a result they still owe a significant mortgage on their home. The collapse in the real estate market in many cases seems to have eaten awhile a good deal of their equity. They can longer sell their McMansion and purchase a smaller home cash. Many don't seem interested in purchasing a small home in the first place...(i.e, don't want to reduce their standard of living).

Anyhow, so if they continue to avoid retirement will it cause an elevated unemployment rate for some time? Will it make it more difficult for the younger generations to get employed?

1. Nah.
2. Nah.
3. Nah.
4. Nah.

Interesting how many people wish to debate a logical fallacy. How do you know what people are thinking? Do you have a special hat for that? I have a special ring that gives me secret powers, but mine is for world domination.

The real question -

Anyhow, so if they continue to avoid retirement will it cause an elevated unemployment rate for some time? Will it make it more difficult for the younger generations to get employed?


is a really easy question to answer, as the variables (people available/jobs available) will never change.

Nope, never have more or less jobs, always adding more retirees. Eventually, there will be no jobs. The market will reach critical mass with old people and will go supernova. The world will be incinerated in a spark of blue flame, and somewhere, a million, bazillion light years away, an alien astronomer will look over at his buddy and say, "I told you so - Gimme my 5 bucks.".

[maggiekate]

Originally Posted by zugor

The definition of the post WWII baby boom varies but at its broadest it is considered those born between 1946 and 1964. That means that the oldest of the boomers is 63 and the youngest are only 45. Social Security considers 65 to be full retirement age, 62 early retirement. So saying that most of the boomers refuse to retire is rather harsh since none of them has yet reached what is considered "standard" retirement age for ss and many pensions. While some are fortunate enough to be able to take early retirement by age 55 that is not true for the majority of boomers. I believe that the life expectancy of boomers alive today is about 80. To retire at 55 or 60 would mean having enough income to live on for 20 or 25 years, which is not easily achieved even for the frugal.

You might also want to ask of the generation that produced the boom - why did so many of you choose to continue to have children after the second one? I'm an early boomer, 1949, and in the suburban neighborhood of my youth 4 to 6 kids was common. I hated being in overcrowded classrooms, in "temporary" buildings that followed us from elementary school through high school and still were not enough. My HS was designed to accomodate 2500 students in grades 10 - 12 but we had over 4000, seniors attended the early shift from about 7 until 1, sophomores and juniors started at about 11 and were there until 5 pm. Competition for a space at the college of choice was high because the universities were not equiped to handle the huge number of students who would be first generation to go to college.

Hang in there my friend there will be a dearth of employees before you finish your working years even if many continue to work into their golden years. That's just a statistical reality.

the age 65 has been replaced for the
boomer kids! Yes you may collect at age 62 and take the hit! Then if they do need health insurance after this crash, more money is needed. For boomers at the start I do think it is age 66 to collect the full S.S. and age goes up from there.

[jazzlover]

I have managed people from age 14 (youth work program) to 77 in a management career spanning three decades now. I've seen "winners" and "losers" in every generation I've supervised--so, in making general statements, one can always find the exceptions. But I have noticed some trends:

1. Starting with the Baby Boomers, and growing with each succeeding generation, the work ethic (dedication, punctuality, effort, etc.) has diminished. Two of my hardest working and dependable employees were in their 70's. They both had significant health issues, but managed to be at work--and work harder while they were there--than employees half their age.

2. While each succeeding generation has become more "technology proficient", there has been a corresponding decline in what I call "plain ol' horse sense." It's as if they have become so reliant on the technology to make their decisions for them, they can't make good choices on their own. For example, I had a young employee make a multi-million dollar calculation error on a spreadsheet--and then vehemently argue that her calculation was right--when anyone with a lick of common sense could see that it was grossly incorrect.

3. Each succeeding generation has become less proficient at managing its financial resources--and are more "money-ignorant."

4. Each succeeding generation has become more politically ignorant--to the point, in my opinion, of becoming nearly incapable of exercising good judgment in electing our leaders. I am appalled that most people under the age of about 50 can not even name the three branches of government and recite what each's function is. That's a damning indictment of our educational system--and one that has been rotting for several decades now.

5. Despite having the most information ever available to the masses anytime in history, today's Americans have to be some of the most mis-informed and undereducated people of the last 50 years--especially in the subjects that really matter. Most Americans may know everything about Paris Hilton's latest sexual antics, but many of them can't even locate major countries on a map, name their US Senators, or balance their checkbook.

6. Despite having every communication tool imaginable, we have become less proficient in communicating in the two most important modes--the spoken and written word. Most current college graduates would flunk a 1920's era 8th grade grammar and spelling test. What passes for "journalism" today is a joke.

There is an old saying, "You usually get what you expect." We, as a society, have been expecting less and less out of our young people, our educational system, our business and government institutions--and from ourselves. And that is exactly what we have gotten. Maybe it is because we were given too much--resources, opportunities, money, etc.--with not that much expected in return. Unlike the "Greatest Generation," no generation since them in this country has faced the collective prospect of losing it all. An analogy I use is from an acquaintance of mine who worked as a geologist in Alaska. He was hiking in remote country to a rendezvous point about 10 miles away where there was a landing spot for a helicopter to pick him up. The helicopter passed overhead, and radioed this fellow to tell him that there was a very large grizzly bear stalking him from about a half mile behind. The geologist, who had been enjoying his day up to that point suddenly had his priorities and his relaxed demeanor changed. As he put it later, "Your whole perspective and priorities change when you realize you are being considered as food." I think we, as a country (and all generations), are about to realize that epiphany--and a whole lot of perspectives will change--and they had better change if we expect to survive what lies ahead economically, geo-politically, and socially.

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by user_id

Some don't have a choice because they did not correctly plan for retirement. Some have a choice, but do not like the idea of reducing their standard of living.


"Work ethic", "how to dress", etc are very generational. The younger generations certainly have different ideas about these things, but the question is do the differences result in worse performance from the company's point of view? I don't think so.

As far as dress in the workplace. Yes it makes a difference when one comes in with their midriff hanging out; this has nothing to do with generations but has to do with common sense and respect. WHY do you think so many companies have made dress codes?

[Bette]

To put it straight, you are a boomer if you born anywhere from 1946 to 1964. That would put some of us at age 45, not exactly ready for the grave yet. I would love to see a society where so much emphasis was not put on age.

PS - Barack Obama, now our President, is actually a Baby Boomer! I think Clinton was also. This was a vast generation.

[azoria]

Originally Posted by Bette

To put it straight, you are a boomer if you born anywhere from 1946 to 1964. That would put some of us at age 45, not exactly ready for the grave yet. I would love to see a society where so much emphasis was not put on age.

PS - Barack Obama, now our President, is actually a Baby Boomer! I think Clinton was also. This was a vast generation.

^^^^^
Exhibit A, Jazzlover?