Most middle-aged and older adults are poor employment risks.
Compared to young adults, they do inferior work, have poorer attitudes
because they are more set in their ways and more often become injured
or ill.
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There are some jobs where age-related decrements in performance
are found, such as those requiring certain perceptual and memory
task skills.
In general, however, there is no indication that older workers
perform more poorly on most jobs, or that they are more likely
to suffer from low morale.
Older workers are less likely than young adults to be injured
on the job, although they are more likely to become disabled and
to take longer to recover when an injury or illness does occur.
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Since work is so important to us, retirement is likely to cause
severe psychological trauma or even an early death.
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Most people adjust reasonably well to retirement, and do not
experience serious psychological or physical trauma because they
have left the world of full-time work.
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Most elderly retirees live in near-poverty, reside in drab apartments,
and have great difficulty acquiring even the bare necessities of
living.
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Although there are important exceptions, the majority of retirees
live in homes that are paid for and have enough money to enjoy
themselves during retirement.
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Because retirement causes husbands and wives to spend so much
more time together, it produces a substantial increase in marital
strife.
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There is no indication that retirement causes significantly
more marital problems for most couples.
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