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Recessionary Fallout follow this blog post

posted by on July 3, 2009

There was an interesting article recently in the Globe and Mail looking at some of the possible long-term effects of the current recession on employment, company cultures, job development and other areas. I found the changes for young workers (the oft-discussed Gen Y) particularly of note.

[M]any young people I talk to have significantly, and resentfully, lowered their expectations. They didn't imagine themselves in this situation in their wildest dreams.

Nor did many others. Generation Y will be most affected by the cutbacks, downsizings and marked change in organizational cultures over the past few months, but the recession will take its toll on every generation's attitudes and expectations. The question is how long-lasting the reverberations will be in reshaping the way people think, feel and act toward work and their careers.

employment gen y recession
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  • 1 point 4 months ago

    I don't agree that generation Y will be the most affected. Older Americans are being forced to work well into what they originally thought would be their retirement years. Many must accept jobs that pay far less than they were making--often part-time and temporary jobs or project assignments.

    If you are already on Medicare, these types of jobs which generally do not come with health care benefits are not a major problem other than reduced income; however if you are not yet 65 your health care costs often become horrific.

  • 1 point 4 months ago

    I know the situation is different in the US for various reasons, but the 50+ crowd here in Canada were changing their work/retirement paradigms long before the recession hit hard.  Many people who saw 'retirement' as the holy grail - and therefore eagerly retired at age 60 - found themselves, by age 61, bored to death, and too young for the mah-jong-in-Florida retirement stereotype.

    When we ask RetiredWorker.ca's 30,000+ registered job-seekers about working after retirement, the majority say that they're doing it to keep busy and learn new things, and money just isn't that important to them. 

    In other words, now that they're retired, they can take that part-time job at the garden centre or the clothing store that they always thought would be fun but wouldn't have let them earn sufficient $$ to raise a family.  So they aren't being 'forced' to work; they WANT to work.

    And I know plenty of accountants and other professionals who earned 6 figures in their pre-retirement job but are happy to do a little contract work for $25/hour.

    Yes, in all these cases people are earning less than they used to; but it's not because they were 'forced' to take part-time or contract jobs.  If they'd wanted the 50-hour-a-week job, they wouldn't have retired in the first place.

  • 1 point 4 months ago

    I believe your out of pocket health care costs in Canada are a great deal less than here in the US.

    A couple retiring at 65 in 2009 will spend an average of $268,000 out of pocket during the combined remainder of their lifetimes. 

    Not many have planned for this huge expense and it is increasing substantially each year,

     

     

  • 1 point 4 months ago

    I'm no expert on US healthcare costs, especially for 65+ people, but the difference isn't always as dramatic once  you've accounted for additional factors, such as:

    - Lots of stuff isn't covered in Canada's 'free' healthcare, including eyeglasses, dental services, physiotherapy, chiropractic, private or semi-private hospital rooms, prescription medication, home healthcare stuff like wheelchairs, leg braces, syringes, etc. 

    - You may not get a bill for the xrays you had at the hospital, but you will get billed for the ambulance and lots of 'incidentals'

    - Some things are covered after age 65 (prescription meds), but the home health care stuff that older people tend to need - canes, special shoes, home dialysis, etc. - is not covered

    - Canadians pay higher taxes throughout their lifetimes.  So when the 65-yr-old US couple sells a $250k house in the US (ie to pay the $268k), they'll end up with more of that money than the Canadian couple.

    Many retired people here have pension/healthcare plans that continue after retirement - doesn't that exist in the US as well?

    When my mother-in-law had brain/breast cancer a couple of years ago, even WITH our 'free' healthcare, it ended up costing $350,000 over 3 years.

    But I agree:  not enough of us are planning for that kind of expense for the long term.

  • 1 point 4 months ago

    "The question is how long-lasting the reverberations will be in reshaping the way people think, feel and act toward work and their careers."

    I wonder if people aren't going to start looking at jobs as hard-to-procure assets.  Won't companies be delighted with that?  Employees who actually invest in their careers - a sea-change in thinking.