U.S. Jobs Improve as European Retirement Options Change
by Hiland Doolittle
The U.S. Labor Department reports that unemployment remains unchanged at 9.7% through March 20th. Using new statistical reporting standards, the department says that claims for new unemployment benefits fell by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted figure of 442,000. Under the old standards, that seasonally adjusted rate would have been 453,000.
Aided by the government’s census hiring, unemployment figures are expected to improve further next month. Overall, analysts are optimistic about the current trend in jobs.
Since December 2007, 8.4 million jobs have been lost in the U.S. 4.65 million Americans received benefits in the week ended March 13, 2010. The four-week moving average of new claims fell by 11,000 to an annual rate of 453,750.
In the wake of the new jobs bill passed by Congress last week, the Obama Administration is expected to ramp up efforts to stabilize unemployment. In Tampa, Florida, there is even some good news for the construction industry. On Thursday, applicants began to apply for 4,000 new construction jobs for a massive downtown development project. The construction industry has been especially hard hit during the recession and Florida is one of the nation’s most devastated economies.
European Seniors Looking to Work
The recession has caused European economies to take a closer look at their pension programs and retirement age policies. In Greece, which serves as a model for “How Not To” economies, the decision to raise the retirement age to 63 from 61 was met with stiff resistance from Union and private workers.
In the United States, for the first time ever, more social security payments were issued than income was received. And around the world, people are discovering that their pension income does not have great buying power. So, seniors are returning to work.
In Europe, the number of persons aged 60 – 65 will exceed the number of 15 – 20-year olds that were expected to replace these workers. Reiner Klingholz of the Berlin Institute for Population and Development explained, “We are running into a serious financial problem combined with an aging, and in countries like Germany, a shrinking society. It will be very difficult, probably impossible, to generate overall growth.”
In 2005, voter turnout of persons 50 years of age or older surpassed turnout by person under 50 years of age. The European Commission has targeted a 50% employment rate for older workers by 2010. That is a startling increase of 45% from 2007 standards.
It is true that people are living longer. It is also true that these people need to work longer. With companies facing layoffs, the older workers were usually the first to go. The bottom line is that there may not be enough young wage earners to sustain the much larger senior population, who has been closed out of the marketplace.
In Great Britain, the state pension age is being pushed back to 68 years of age in 2046. Price Waterhouse projects that if the age were moved up to 70, the country would save 0.6% of its GDP.
The European Commission reports that many workers start retiring between 55 and 59 years of age. After age 60, the rate rises sharply. If Europeans continue this trend, they could well be looking at 10 years or more before their pensions activate.
Europe’s senior pension plans are so out of balance that they have become top list items among economies. Faced with 8 trillion euros of debt and outdated industrialization, the mountain is very steep. Seniors will be needed to return to work and manufacturing needs an overhaul.
China will be facing their own major dilemma in 15 yeas of so. At that time China’s senior population will need support form the young, restricted population. Once Chairman Mao enacted the one-child policy, the ration of seniors to young workers will be staggering.
Tags: Europe, jobs, recession, retirement, unemployment, us economy
About the Author - Hiland Doolittle
Hiland is a professional writer with extensive entrepreneurial experience. He is a graduate of St. George’s School Newport, RI and the State University of New York at Albany where he majored in history. He has been active in the real estate business for 30 years and has founded and sold several businesses.
Hiland currently writes for several financial sites and is a published author of the novel The Last Parade. He has recently completed a manuscript for a children’s book entitled Sami and The Minnow Man.
