With the life-expectancy of most Americans increasing, a new set of problems could emerge as the population as a whole ages. The problem arose from an increase in the quality of living. At first, there was no problem. Infant mortality rates decreased and the number of younger people in the work force was at an all time high. This meant that there was more people producing goods and service, which increased the amount of economic output per capita. Now, move forward in time to the latter part of the 20th century and the problem emerges. These adults are either near retirement or in retirement, and now the number of adults that are producing and engaged in a number of economic activity has decreased. This is further exacerbated by the fact that these adults are living longer than even they expected. That means that more and more people are in retirement, which places a restrain on our economic output. This might not be as bad as some would make it out to be. Older people might decide to continue working long after they reach the retirement age. Some argue that the government should take it upon themselves to increase the retirement age, not only to aid us economically but also to “encourage healthier lifestyles so older people are more productive.”
See David Wessel, Economic Pros and Cons of Longer Life Spans, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 28, 2012.
Special Thanks to Brian J. Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
