Work, retire, repeat : the uncertainty of retirement in the new economy / Teresa Ghilarducci ; with a foreword by E.J. Dionne Jr..

By:

Ghilarducci, Teresa

Contributor(s):

Dionne, E. J., Jr [writer of foreword.]

Material type: Text

TextPublisher: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2024Description: xv, 260 pages : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

9780226831466
0226831469

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

332.024/0140973 23/eng/20230804

LOC classification:

HQ1063.2.U6 G55 2024

Contents:

Foreword / E.J. Dionne Jr. -- How the working-longer consensus made the retirement crises worse. The erosion of retirement and the rise of retirement inequality; The shift to retirement insecurity -- The hidden costs of working longer. Working longer is often not a choice; Working longer can harm your health; Working longer creates unequal retirement time; Working longer does little to improve retirement security; When older workers lose, all workers lose; The high cost of bad pensions -- The Gray New Deal. Good jobs for older workers; Creating better pensions.

Summary: "The issue of the future of Social Security, on which millions of Americans depend, produced great political theater at the State of the Union address. That highlighted a bigger problem of financing retirement as baby boomers seek to retire, often with limited resources. Many argue that the solution to the problem is for people to work longer. Teresa Ghilarducci, a noted expert on retirement, argues that the "working longer" idea is wrong, unnecessary, and discriminates against people who work in lower wage occupations. Ghilarducci pushes for a national plan to finance retirement that would draw on contributions by both employers and employees to replace our privatized and ramshackle personal retirement system and make changes in the tax system that supports Social Security to give people a real choice whether to retire or continue to work in their later years. This book tells the stories of people locked into jobs later in life not because they love to work but because they must work. She demonstrates how relatively low-cost changes in the way we manage, and finance retirement will enable people in their so-called "golden years" to choose how to spend their time."-- Provided by publisher.

List(s) this item appears in: New Adult Nonfiction | New Young Adult Additions

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Adult Book	Phillipsburg Free Public Library	Adult Non-Fiction	New Books	332.0240140973 GHI	Checked out	05/22/2024	36748002556084

Total holds: 1

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A damning portrait of the dire realities of retirement in the United States--and how we can fix it.

While the French went on strike in 2023 to protest the increase in the national retirement age, workers in the United States have all but given up on the notion of dignified retirement for all. Instead, Americans--whose elders face the highest risk of poverty compared to workers in peer nations--are fed feel-good stories about Walmart clerks who can finally retire because a customer raised the necessary funds through a GoFundMe campaign.

Many argue that the solution to the financial straits of American retirement is simple: people need to just work longer. Yet this call to work longer is misleading in a multitude of ways, including its endangering of the health of workers and its discrimination against people who work in lower-wage occupations. In Work, Retire, Repeat, Teresa Ghilarducci tells the stories of elders locked into jobs--not because they love to work but because they must.

But this doesn't need to be the reality. Work, Retire, Repeat shows how relatively low-cost changes to how we finance and manage retirement will allow people to truly choose how they spend their golden years.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-247) and index.

"The issue of the future of Social Security, on which millions of Americans depend, produced great political theater at the State of the Union address. That highlighted a bigger problem of financing retirement as baby boomers seek to retire, often with limited resources. Many argue that the solution to the problem is for people to work longer. Teresa Ghilarducci, a noted expert on retirement, argues that the "working longer" idea is wrong, unnecessary, and discriminates against people who work in lower wage occupations. Ghilarducci pushes for a national plan to finance retirement that would draw on contributions by both employers and employees to replace our privatized and ramshackle personal retirement system and make changes in the tax system that supports Social Security to give people a real choice whether to retire or continue to work in their later years. This book tells the stories of people locked into jobs later in life not because they love to work but because they must work. She demonstrates how relatively low-cost changes in the way we manage, and finance retirement will enable people in their so-called "golden years" to choose how to spend their time."-- Provided by publisher.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

Acknowledgments (ix)
Foreword (xi)
Part 1 How the Working-Longer Consensus Made the Retirement Crises Worse
1 The Erosion of Retirement and the Rise of Retirement Inequality (3)
2 The Shift to Retirement Insecurity (25)
Part II The Hidden Costs of Working Longer
3 Working Longer Is Often Not a Choice (47)
4 Working Longer Can Harm Your Health (63)
5 Working Longer Creates Unequal Retirement Time (87)
6 Working Longer Does Little to Improve Retirement Security (106)
7 When Older Workers Lose, All Workers Lose (121)
8 The High Cost of Bad Pensions (144)
Part III The Gray New Deal
9 Good Jobs for Older Workers (163)
10 Creating Better Pensions (178)
Notes (197)
Bibliography (223)
Index (249)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Labor economist and recognized retirement expert Ghilarducci (economics and policy analysis, New Sch. for Social Research; Rescuing Retirement) presents a grim view of the current ominous realities of retirement in the United States and offers recommendations for improvement. Many aging Americans have abandoned their dreams of a dignified retirement and must continue to work as long as their health allows. The overly simplified answer to the retirement crisis, that people just need to work longer, fails Ghilarducci's litmus test; she believes this fallacious reasoning endangers workers' health and discriminates against people in low-wage occupations. She shares true stories of people locked into jobs not because they love to work but because they must, and her meticulous research analyzes how working longer does little to improve retirement security and inadequate pensions. Her solutions include improving jobs and pensions for older workers. VERDICT This highly recommended book focuses on middle- and lower-income people who do not have millions in their retirement accounts and who are particularly concerned about the retirement possibilities that their children and grandchildren will have. It nicely updates Dora L. Costa's The Evolution of Retirement and will appeal to fans of Jessica Bruder's Nomadland.--Dale Farris