Second Thought

Looking again at news and commentary

"New Study of Older Workers Finds They Can Become Good Investments" by Kathleen Teltsch—May 21, 1991

The New York Times

"Dan Young of Atlanta came out of an unwanted retirement four years ago, took a job booking hotel rooms and now at the age of 74 helps supervise hundreds of reservation agents.

"Christine Shelley, a widow who was retired, became restless and went back to work. She learned to use a computer and earned six annual pay increases. Now 73 years old, she advises other older workers, 'Never be afraid to accept a challenge.'

"Their experiences illustrate the finding of a new study of two American corporations and a British retail chain. It concluded that older workers can be retrained in new technologies, have lower absenteeism and are often better salespeople than younger workers.

" 'The biggest single barrier for employers to hire older workers was the lack of any verifiable evidence that it made good sense economically to do so,' said Thomas W. Moloney, senior vice president of the Commonwealth Fund, which commissioned the study.

" 'We have here the first systematic, hard-nosed economic analysis showing older workers are good investments,' he said of the study made by ICF, a Washington consulting concern specializing in labor market studies."

Editors' comment: Stereotypes sometimes die hard. But it's always good to see them start to lose their grip on human thought. The myth that advanced years must be accompanied by declining usefulness is a pervasive one; so the growing acknowledgment that there can be useful work, service, and progress for seniors is one of the most encouraging signs of the times.

Incidentally, the founder of this magazine was in her late seventies when the first issue came off the press.

II Corinthians

God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: ... being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness.

II Corinthians 9:8, 11

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