Insomecountriestheaverageworkeris obligedtoretireattheageof50,whilein
otherspeoplecanworkuntilthey are
65 or70.Meanwhile,weseesomepoliticiansenjoyingpowerwellintotheir
eighties.Clearly,thereislittle
agreementonanappropriateretirement age.
Untilwhatagedo youthinkpeopleshouldbeencouragedtoremaininpaid
employment?
Givereasonsforyouranswer.
Youshouldwriteatleast 250 words.
modelanswer:
Mandatoryretirementagevariesfromsocietytosociety, perhapsareflection of
economics, population pressuresorsimply valuesystems.Indeed,retirementat 50
can probably beaseasilyjustifiedasthatat70.Itismy belief, however,thatthe
longeranablepersonisallowedtowork,thebetterforboththeindividualworkerand
theemployer.
Chronologicalageisnotalwaysatrueindicatorofability.Whilesome 65 ¬year-olds
may notperformaswellasthey did
intheirpast,manyworkersatthisagedojustaswellorbetterthanthey usedto.
People'ssuitabilityforapositionshould beareflection oftheirperformanceinthejob,
ratherthanthenumberofwrinklesor grey hairsthey have.Employersconcernedabout
theincreasingageoftheir
employeesneed only observetheirworkrecords.Thosedoing poorlymay beaskedto
retire, butthoseasyetunaffected byageshouldstay on.Indeed,itwouldappear
economicalforan organisationtoretain
itsolderemployeeswhen possibleratherthanspendtimeandmoney ontraining new
workers.
Remainingin one'sjobforaslongasoneisablemakessenseaslifeexpectancies
increasearoundtheworld.Aspeoplelivelonger,theyarelongerabletocontribute
tosocietyintheformofmeaningfulwork.Buttheyarealsoin need ofincomefora
longerperiod,soamandatoryretirement
ageof 55 forsomeonewhoisstatisticallylikelytoliveto 77 becomesincreasingly
difficulttojustify.Atatimewhen populationsareageing, governmentsarelessableto
providefortheirseniorcitizens,so by keepingableworkersin paidemploymentforas
longasis practicable, publicexpendituresarelessstrained.
Thus,workerswhocanstilldemonstratetheircapacitytocarry outtheirworkshould not
beaskedtoretiresimply becausethey havereachedacertainage.Societiesthatinsist
onearlyretirementmay dowelltolookagainattheirpolicies.
Sample 140
Youshouldspendabout 40 minutesonthis
task.