Older Workers More Of A Force In Nevada And Nationwide

By Fred Wasser

istockphoto

As more of us are living longer, we’re also thinking about extending our working lives.

An estimated 20 percent of seniors work or are looking for work, which is twice as many as 20 years ago.

Of course, there are many reasons for this. It might be a desire to remain active. It could be that finances are dictating a working life beyond the traditional retirement age of 65. It could be a chance to launch a second career that we always dreamed about.

Mark Anderson is the director of the human resources company Nevada Industry Excellence.

He said more people are working past 65 because of better health and because the days of working for one company for life are gone.

“A 65-year-old worker today is not a 65-year-old worker from a generation ago,” he said.

Anderson said people have to reinvent themselves and find new careers much more often now than a generation ago. 

With more older people in the workforce, conflicts are arising with younger workers. A new national poll shows that younger workers feel older workers block them from promotions and work at a slower pace. Older workers, on the other hand, say younger workers don’t work as hard.

Anderson thinks it is time to reset that paradigm and instead of putting older workers “out to pasture” before they’re done with quality work and innovation, they should be paired with younger workers.

Read the rest of the story at knpr.org.