Record Numbers Of Retired Americans Are Working Part-Time Jobs
Every other aspect of the US economy may be going to hell in a handbasket, with an acute manufacturing recession starting to spill over into the services sector, but at least the US jobs number is "stellar", right?
Wrong.
We showed one way how the BLS fudges the number higher, when we reported on Friday that of the surge in December jobholders, a whopping 324,000 of these new "jobs" were by multiple jobholders, as in 1 person = 2 (or more) jobs, effectively cutting the job gain in half (or worse). Worse, the total number of jobholders surged to 7.738 million, just shy of an all time high, and the highest since August 2008.
And then there is this.
According to a Bloomberg report, a record number Americans who are retired (or are collecting Social Security) worked part-time last month.
In December, a record 2.6 million workers had either reached full retirement or restricted themselves to work-weeks of 34 hours or less due to Social Security income limitations. Individuals can collect Social Security and work with no limit on earnings once they reach full retirement age. However, if they receive Social Security before full retirement age they will lose some of their benefit if they exceed the annual earnings limit. For 2016, this cap is $15,720. The penalty is a $1 deduction in Social Security for every $2 earned above the limit.
What is most disturbing, is that this is the "data" the Fed uses to justify to the world that its decision to hike rates was the right one. Meanwhile, anyone who is not an economist will take on look at the above charts and realize why 7 years ino the "recovery" there has been no wage growth, and why the Fed is shooting itself both in the leg and in the head by hiking at this point.
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CNN money told me everything was fine though?!
Hey, woah there pardner. Them 80 year olds enjoy slicing your bologna at the local grocery store.
What George Washington said and no one paid attention >>> http://wp.me/p4OZ4v-3z
Welcome to Costco, I love you.
Zero interest rates on their savings has destroyed not only the middle class but many seniors' life savings.
Thank you Soweto!
very very sad indeed...
Mother......should I build the wall?
"No Purina for you tonight, Grampa."
Long- Depends with a built in back brace.
Hey, we might be on to something. I'll split with you guys.
at least they know what extra thin means and know what capicola is.
Yep, those retires are living the life of Riley on there SS.
This just means they can all buy moar stocks
I bet most boomers never figured their retirement would look like this.
Grampa says his KibblenBits would be more palatable if he could afford coffee to wash it down.
https://s2.graphiq.com/sites/default/files/838/media/images/t2/Kibbles_n...
But alas.
No tears for the Grampas and Dads in America; watery eyes only for gun control.
Sigh.
Well, I did figure that it wouldn't be me and a youthful-looking lady smiling at the sunset as we eased our sailboat toward the dock of our 3-story McSpeculation, and discussed whether we felt like a Viagra tonight or not, the way the Stockbrokerage ads on television show. ("Where are the boomers yachts?" :-)
BUT! It's okay. If you live cheaply all your life, you don't mind retiring cheaply. The best things in life ARE free. And it's what most people did, in most places, in most of human history.
you were never meant to retire. you are suppose to work until you die. now get to work. isn't that a more honorable way to go out? or would you rather be on the .gov dole? have some self respect and give your ss check to someone who really needs it, you fn freeloader.
You are supposed to work until you die...says who? glad you enjoy your enslavement.
Does "Be careful what you wish for.", have any meaning to you? Maintaining an acceptable style of living can be accomplished several ways. Promises from the government and the financiers can't. If you like to steal it, that's an option and that's just the way it is. We are slaves from our and others doing. But we are still alive and we can still vote and take jobs. We're going to be around for a long time yet. And then maybe the millennials will save this country. (Yeah, right.)
The Old Man
We've been robbed of our birthright by this rotten system on so many levels if you're going to call it stealing when someone takes a little back then you're still drinking the koolaid. Me I'm a single dad in a my 40s with two young daughters. I get food stamps, state medical, and heating assistance. If I qualified for more I would take it. I say take everything you can from this rotten parasitic system; it can only hasten its destruction. Spend the resultant free time learning useful skills, doing shit you want to do, and raising your own kids instead of outsourcing the responsibility. Do shit that matters. Your job doesn't.
My buddy is a painter.
To compete, he HAD to hire Hispanics. The same crew for over ten years. Four of them. In the beginning, you could not get them to stop.
Today. ( well, Saturday)
They showed up on the job ( we were working, all weekend, had to), dressed to the nines, in a brand new Honda. Got the balance of their pay, 1099'nd of course. ( they NEVER FILE. No withholding.) Told my buddy, who by the way starts stressing on Wed trying to collect to make payroll, constant now..... They said " we can't live like this, waiting for our money" and quit.
These motherfuckers.
Sneaked in to this country. Destroyed the pay scale, because they don't pay taxes, so the operate for less. Meanwhile, we are chase by Uncle Sam, and they get a free pass.
And they can't live like this. It's a motherfucking good thing I didn't see this go down. I'm afraid I'd lost my shit, and beat that little illeagal invader fucking fuck to a pulp.
I'm inclined to call ICE. Yeah, right, they'd laugh me off the line.
Go Trump.
The IRS offers rewards for turning in tax-cheats.
I feel 100% sure that the people inside the Beltway know very well that this is EXACTLY what is going on across the USA, and as soon as they turn away from the TV cameras, break out into huge grins and high-five each other.
Thus the magical unemployment rate! College graduates hold two three part time jobs!
Forward comrades!
Funny timing with this article as my father who is 66 just got a part time job today. I don't see him in the same boat as most of the boomers that still work after full retirement age. He is not doing it for money, just something to do. He worked 60+ hours a week his whole adult life and is bored. Because of his long hours he never had a social life. Not many friends and does not fish,hunt, golf or any of the things people usually look forward to when they retire. I guess he just needs something to fill his days.
there was some research done on the morbidity/death rate of male retirees moving to florida. it was done thirty years ago and i am not going to check current stats, but, i seem to remember some 30% died or got really sick within a few years after retiring to florida. it seems guys had a hard time doing nothing. i suppose it might apply to working woman, too. housewives always had something to do so retirement didn't bother them so much.
Makes no sense to me... maybe because I'm a rare case of an adult western male that never lost the ability to manage unstructured time. I never have a problem with boredom; I have a problem with finding time to do all the shit I want to do. And that's with only spending about 20 hours a week doing stuff for money.
You need to qualify your statement. It is WHITE guys who have a hard time doing nothing. Many black men never hold a real job (the ones who do are AA or gov't types who also do not work) and tend to live just fine.
That's because most white men bought the propaganda of the so called "American Dream" sold every day to us by the Corporate Fascist States of America.
It's only when you slow down in retirement that you have to time to realize it was all bullshit. Your work didn't mean shit, your life doesn't mean shit. You don't even get a gold plated watch anymore. They just shit you out like yesterday's Taco Bell lunch.
Too bad, whitey, you just realized what the black man has known all his life. You're nothing but a slave in the Corporate Fascist States of America.
My friend's Grandpa doesn't do it for the money either ... just the food.
The stawk market crash in '08 then zero yield on his savings pretty much forced him out again if he wants to eat.
All part of Change You Can Beleive In, Senior Edition.
This. If you are working for those fuckers there is something wrong with you. If not holding a position in the parasitic money economy makes you bored and uneasy it's because of 13 years of educational concentration camp that destroys the ability every five year old has to manage unstructured time and you need to get over that shit. Christ get a hobby or learn a useful skill... Don't give the overlords one more second of your labor.
Besnook,
You are looking at one of Life's dirty little secrets.
You can look at any country that has had any type of economic crisis. The longevity rates decline following the economic crisis. The harder the drop, the larger the longevity decline.
It happened here in the US as well after the 2008 crisis. I knew many that were forced to take retirement -- even those who were within a year or two of retirement anyway. I would be interested to know if the longevity decline had more to do with psychology or physiology. Likely it's connected to both. I do know from my own experiences that most of my colleagues that actively retired are now dead. They all dropped out in their 60s. Most of them were not in bad health. They simply stopped being active. I believe that's what caused their deaths.
If you really do want to live to 100 the way to most economic way to do that is to start gardening before you are 70. Make sure the garden is at least double the size of what you think you can easily handle. If you are in the northern climates then you will need to learn how to do that indoors. The secret (it's not much of a secret) to living to 100 is to be down on your knees every day digging in the dirt. You need to be "asses and elbows" busy all year around. Otherwise, it will be you that will be getting planted/recycled. Maybe 60 years is enough for most people, while 70 is enough for others. Barring accidents or being dealt a bad hand by genetics, longevity seems to be somewhat of a choice.
Living to 100 seemed to be such an incredibly long time when I was 15. In the grand universal scheme of things, it's hardly any time at all.
My GP confirms this observation. He says that almost 30% of his male patients die soon after they retire. Stopping work is like hitting a wall at 90mph for these poor slobs.
Hypothetical retiree, private sector.
Live frugally, have everything paid off, have 1 million dollars in CDs earning 1% thanks to the Bernank and Yellin = $10K, less taxes, less property taxes, less utilities, less insurance, less maintenance, less food, just got letter that my pension was cut by 50% or more, still have not quite recovered from 2008, less.... fuck it, back to work I go.
Not very hypothetical. More like honest truism. Upped you. Thanks for understanding!
The Old Man
Except for the million dollars in CD's
I work with a retiree. It's ok, he's not taking anybodys job and he's good for the economy cause he's buying stocks, lotto and liquor with his takehome
Yo Vince!
I'm buying PM's, firearms, ammo and freeze dried food. So when guys like you come along, well, "You can be my slaves.", in a Lewis Black kinda genre!
The Old Man
My father finally qualified for Social Security last year. Of course, he cam't afford to retire either. Dear old mom squandered every penny he ever made (including my college fund) and then some on herself, a huge house she refused to sell even during the boom (we still spoke then) and useless liberal arts degrees for my sister, the only one of four children to get any financial help with college (and the only one who never amounted to anything).
Of course, Mom went batshit when her own mother died and her share of the inheritance had to go to paying debts she'd racked up. Dad did it behind her back because an adult conversation with Mom about money was impossible.
When SS goes up the spout, all Mom can expect from her son out of the kindness of his heart is a hypodermic full of the household solvent of her choice.
I've seen that with friends of mine and they went downhill fast because their kids weren't prepared financially to support, "Mom and Dad!". A lot of people think we retirees' are living high on the hog with SS and trade retirements. Well, some are somewhat, but most are not. Many did not have the discipline to plan. But, in my case, as long as they tell me I can work, while I still have my health and mental ability, I'm going to do it. And I'm alone, so I don't have the influence of a partner who can yell at me that I am not performing financially to her standards. If I did, well she'd be out the door, because no one tells me how to run the life I have to live. I had one, but she's gone long ago and never, ever, argued money. We maintained a good life.
There is no argument about money folks. Live as best you can, save and plan within your means, and teach this to your children. Show them what money is and what it can do. Set them up and oversee the management of it. It will pay dividends well past your existence.
Seriously!
The Old Man
Better still to teach your kids to live on as little money as possible, and to avoid giving their labor to parasitic system of wage slavery. Teach your kids to be free.
"I regret that I have but one upvote to give for your post." Let me do a Yellen and print you 1000 more.
I will see your Yellen and raise you two Yellens. :0)
sorry about ALL of this, man
I wonder if this includes the massive number of twenty-something retired folk we read about last week?
I signed in just to comment on this.
No shit! I've been retired for five years and am holding a part time job for that time. And not just to keep busy. I'm a seasonal facilities manager for a sports club where two of my predecessors not only have been complete flops, but almost destroyed the club. And I have HS kids work for me during the season. Half of them are worthless! But I keep them working because of inner politic until they go run off to college, and from what I've seen, go downhill from there.
And guess what? I have to work! I and my management and trade skills have taken the club to new heights working with the board and the municipality we are located in. And I make more than the national average wage.
I work because I'm not dead yet and I like the money and the progress I can give to the club. Trump is right as a side note. "Everything is negotiable." You can live by that motto fellas.
Never say die! You go until you can't go any more. But you leave something good behind! That's how most of the blue collar BOOMERS were brought up.
The Old Man
Who the hell has time to retire. The garden takes time, the animals take time, the maintenance on the acreage takes time, the equipment takes time, the tools take time, .... and after all that you do some drafting and design work for some select clients who want unique or interesting buildings. Age is not a factor but the youth of today do not have the same work/life ethic.
Think of all the slaves/serfs you will have to help when the SHTF! Just be very wary.
The Old Man
I forgot to mention the beans, bullets and bandaids. Keeping them firearms zeroed in and in top condition takes some time but thats my fun.
Oh my Christ the "work ethic ". Don't make me vomit. You only have one life; it mostly ought to be fun. You know why the Calvinist church died? Cus it's not needed. The propoganda machine has turned almost everyone into calvinists. Work will set you free and all that shit...
"Work will set you free". That's what the sign said above Auschwitz, if memory serves me. When I was in the corporate world, that's sure felt like where I was going everyday.