[Market Economy Guide] On Working in Old Age

The Sense of Achievement, Reward, and Self-Realization That Work Brings Even in Old Age…

It’s Not “I work because I’m healthy,” but rather “I’m healthy because I work.”

When people say the “father of music,” they usually mean Bach, and when they say the “father of modern physics,” they generally think of Isaac Newton. And as for the “father of management,” that title is often given to Peter Drucker, the American management scholar and writer. Drucker, who never stopped researching and writing throughout his life, was a prolific author who wrote more than 30 books on management alone. One day, a reporter asked him which of his many books he considered the best. The elderly scholar reportedly smiled and answered, “The next one to come out.”

Long Live Peter Drucker’s Longevity

In responding that way, Drucker must have been thinking of Giuseppe Verdi, the great Italian opera master. Drucker deeply loved Verdi’s operas, and it is said that he admired him not only musically but also as a person. What he respected was Verdi’s tireless devotion to composing even at an advanced age. Verdi wrote one of his masterpieces, Aida, at 57, Othello at 73, and continued releasing new operas until three years before his death.

Drucker’s answer—“My best work is the next book to come out”—was in fact borrowed from something Verdi himself had said. In his later years, Verdi once remarked, “As a musician, I pursued perfection. I worked hard to do my work perfectly, but each time I finished a piece, I was always left with regrets. Because of this, I believe I always have a duty to challenge myself one more time.” And he remained vigorously active until his death at the age of 88. Drucker, who admired him, also never let go of work until he passed away at 97.

It has already been quite a long time since the phrase “Life begins at 60” first appeared. Turning 60 was a benchmark of longevity only in the premodern era. In an age when average life expectancy is 100, 60 simply means reaching the halfway point of life.

Bismarck’s Concept of Retirement Age

The concept of a “mandatory retirement age of 65” originally came from the social security policies of Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor of Germany in the late 19th century. In 1889, Bismarck became the first in the world to introduce a policy granting old-age pensions starting at age 65. This was intended to check the spread of socialist movements that were gradually gaining ground across Europe at the time. Bismarck laid the foundations of the social security systems we know today, including health insurance, industrial accident insurance, and pension insurance. For that reason, age 65 was once also called the “Bismarck age.”

Some may ask: if people retired around 65 in the old days, why is there any need to change it now? But we should note that when Bismarck was active, average life expectancy was well below 60, so retiring at 65 was in reality hardly different from working until death. What is truly remarkable is that the retirement age Bismarck set more than 100 years ago still persists in the 21st century.

The positive effects of work—such as a sense of achievement, reward, and self-realization—do not apply in the same way to pensioners who engage in no productive activity at all. Rather than retiring in one’s 60s and spending old age in helplessness, contributing to society through the wisdom and experience accumulated over many years of work would have a more positive effect on both the individual and society. When older people have jobs, regular movement and increased activity improve their health and naturally reduce their visits to hospitals. According to a government survey of 1,220 employed seniors, after getting jobs, 6% escaped poverty, their health improved, and their medical expenses fell by about 190,000 won per person. The saying “It’s not that you work because you’re healthy, but that you’re healthy because you work” is a hidden truth of life.

There is also criticism that Korea’s retirement age is much lower than that of advanced countries. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada do not even have the concept of mandatory retirement. The United States abolished the statutory mandatory retirement system in 1986, and the United Kingdom did the same in 2011. In 2006, Japan revised its laws so that companies could choose one of three options: raising the retirement age, abolishing it, or continuing to employ workers after retirement age. Through this, Japan has been improving its employment system, including lowering wages from a certain age before retirement and discontinuing regular promotions.

Retirement in Our Time

In Praise of Aging, written by the French journalist Colette Ménage in her 70s, describes in detail how elderly people in Europe live today and the socioeconomic circumstances they face. She wrote, “Even after 70, one can live energetically and intensely, and real old age begins at 90.”

It is a famously well-known story that the great German writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe did not complete the final sentence of Faust until he was 82. To Drucker, Goethe, and Ménage, perhaps human beings do not die when their breathing stops, but when they retire. The elderly of our time are still far too young to retire.

■ Please remember

The positive effects of work—such as a sense of achievement, reward, and self-realization—do not apply in the same way to pensioners who engage in no productive activity at all. Rather than retiring in one’s 60s and spending old age in helplessness, contributing to society through the wisdom and experience accumulated over many years of work would have a more positive effect on both the individual and society.

Sung-no Choi, President of the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: [시장경제 길라잡이] 일하는 노년에 대하여

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2020-08-03

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=column&pn=7&idx=22961