Creativity and Aging

A. Pension plans and social security have made it unnecessary for older individuals to work.

B. Contribution of retirees in terms of volunteerism and caregiving is equivalent to 12 million full-time jobs.

C. People are staying healthy to a much later age.

1. Most people are relatively healthy and robust well into their 60s and 70s, and many even older.

II. It is no longer believed that older people cannot learn new skills.

A. Older people have been found to be retrainable for new technologies just as readily as young people.

B. Older people are less likely to find employment in times of economic recession when preference of employment is given to younger workers.

1. In times of economic booms, the older individuals are more likely to find employment, and to be kept on longer.

C. Productive aging can be achieved in which older individuals are still able to produce goods and services, even if not compensated for them.

III. There are conflicting interests between the elderly and the young which prevent the elderly from working longer.

A. There is a culture lag which has not caught up with the idea that older people are valuable resources economically.

B. Some older people have things they would prefer to do other than working or volunteering.

1. The defective-institution hypothesis says that working conditions and the volunteer options are so bad older people often avoid both options.

. . .
1950s that the brain was not plastic and that the brain could not develop but only degenerate are no longer tenable (Shearing 1992, 12). Scientists now know that the brain continually rewires and adapts itself even in old age (Neergaard, 2004). Older workers may show some decline in speed and accuracy, but this is compensated for by less absenteeism, lower job turnover, and lower accident rates. Caro, Bass and Chen talk about productive aging, which they define as ôany activity by an older individual that produces goods or services or develops the capacity to produce them, whether they are to be paid or notö (Moody, 2002, 266). They point out the non-productive ageing, where people no longer have a defined role in life is a relatively recent phenomenon in America. The myth that older adults cannot learn new skills and are therefore unable to fit into the new roles required for employment in a technological age may become a self-fulfilling prophecy if management continues to ignore this important resource (Shearer, 1992, 12). Prior to the Social Security Act of 1935 older people were expected to work unless they could be cared for by their families or in almshouses (Moody, 2002, 266). Today, the older generation is in inc
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Approximate Word count = 1756
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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