Topic: In some countries, the average worker is obliged to retire at the age of 50, while in others people can work until they are 65 or 70. Until what age do you think people should be encouraged to remain in paid employment? Give reasons for your answer.
Essayist: Taraneh
In my idea, thirty years of being in paid employment is enough, which is almost in the 60 decades of life. After this amount of years, employees become bored with routines and failed to concentrating effectively. On the other hand, the young are so motivated to start their jobs and make a living.
First, if the old become retired in their 60 decades of their life, their place will be replaced by the young who are eager to start their jobs and willing to become independent from their families. Therefore, there will be less unemployed people among the young. Second, those who work till the age of 65 don’t have as much energy as the young do, to spend and focus on their jobs. Furthermore, they have lots of illness. For them the best thing is to take rest and spend their time with their grandchildren or volunteer in charity organizations. Instead, the young have the latest information with more creative mind. In addition, they take risk more easily than the old. Hence, younger generation definitely take their jobs more seriously in order to build their future. In short, if the old replace with the young, we would have more satisfaction in our employment.
Essayist: Sasan
It is unanimously acknowledged that “work is worship”, and today anyone is engaged in a job. However, people are skeptical about the retirement age. Some believe that the age of 50 is a sufficient age at which the employees should retire. On the contrary, some take issues with this view and maintain that the workers had better be involved in jobs until 65 or so. Here, I accord with the latter perspective.
Multifarious points could shore up my vantage point. First and foremost, entering retirement could put a damper on the people’s self-esteem who are old. To put it in another way, being out of work conveys a deleterious sense to the people in advanced age that they are not beneficial for the society anymore, and as a result, they might get depressed and melancholy. Apart from that, the experience of the elderly is something to which we cannot close our eyes. Sometimes, in the workplace, some practical remedies could be found with the help of the old experienced workers who can open doors to the career development.
Besides, employing the old leads to speeding up production. To illustrate, more workforce could lift the burden from the employer’s shoulders more considerably, thereby boosting efficiency. Therefore, despite being controversial, the old experienced employees ought not to be marginalised in the workplace on account of their age.
Essayist: Sam
Life’s pace of human beings has unimaginably increased so rapid that people have required to raise their working hour progressively. Some people believed that the age of 50 is the right time for retiring, however, this is refuted by many others who have faith in the age of above 65. These arguments will be discussed in this order.
Some people hold the theory that they should experience retirement period at the age of 50. Many people argue that the right time is above 65 or even more; it depends on individual’s resourcefulness. In industrialized era, people should make enormous demands on any fields for further development. Thus, it is believed that people, above 65 or higher, should be encouraged to achieve their own advancement and community at any ages in accordance with their capability simultaneously.
Essayist: Hajar
The standard retirement age differs from country to country but it is generally between 50 and 70. I believe that a retirement age should be selected after intensive research into a country’s job market. Decision makers basically need to consider the financial cost of ageing, health, life expectancy, nature of profession, supply of work force, etc.
Most country tends to increase the retirement age for various reasons. Firstly, the average life spans increase due to technological change and advances in health care system. Therefore, Social Security faced with problem of the continuously growing retiree population such as pension payments and unemployment. Secondly, the current elderly, compared to the previous generation, are more active and dynamic in the second half of their lives. So, employers can use their experiences and skills.
However, raising retirement age would be especially hard on lower-income and hand workers. Also, older workers could face bias from employers who prefer younger employees with newer skills and lower salaries.
In conclusion, deciding about retirement age not only need to consider all effective aspects on the quality of life for individuals in society but also it affects on economic growth and social solidarity.
Special thanks to our students, Hajar, Sam, Sasan, and Taraneh for submitting their essays to us for analysis.