Why retirement age should not be raised

In France presently, the retirement age is 65 years, and in Denmark it is expected to be increased to 70 years of age, because life expectancy is higher there and people are living well into their 90s. It should be emphasised that those are countries with a cooler climate, a higher standard of living and a better quality of life.

In TT we have seen people living into their 80s and 90s.

Those people grew up during the time of no automobile transport, they were therefore more mobile, did more physical work than people do now, and they walked long distances to school and also to fetch transport to work. Also, their nutrition was far better than the eating habits that got established since the early 1980s.

In France, where the retirement age is 65, one candidate in the recent election campaign, Jean Luc Melenchon, proposed to lower the pension age to 60 and the weekly working time to 32 hours, give employees a sixth week of holiday, raise the minimum wage by 16 percent and force the State to give everyone work.

Societies are undergoing a demographic transition the world has never seen. It is also true that work provides cognitive health, slows mental decline and lessens isolation, but in this country, working conditions and daily life are stressful to many and even unbearable in some cases. For decades, the daily stress of travelling alone has wrought a tendency towards absenteeism, unpunctuality and reduced manpower. Older workers eagerly look forward to gaining control of their life at retirement.

They do however wish for some kind of engagement to prevent atrophy, but they certainly do not see themselves working 8-4 at 60 years of age.

Being able to work beyond 60 years depends on sound physical and mental health. Many young people in their 40s are afflicted with some ailment; be it obesity, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol or chronic back pain, which is now increasing in numbers. Depression medication is now listed on the CDAP programme, indicative of a condition prevailing in the country.

Then there is the creeping condition of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, which is affecting some people in their 40s. Alzheimer’s, it is said, manifests 20 years before symptoms are detected.

All of this mitigates against raising retirement age. The annual increase in budgetary allocation for health in this country is testimony that the country is neither robust nor healthy.

Many people after retiring find themselves at a loss to adjust to a life of failing health and dependency.

Over the past 30 years, I have observed government workers who die within three to five years after retirement, because they were limping along during the last years of working.

Because this is a very hot and humid country, the toll exacted on people every day, makes the point that retirement age should not be increased. In fact a case may well be made to lower the retirement age.

RONALD BHOLA via email