One in five workers ages 50 to 70 say they’ve been bruised badly enough in the bumpy stock market of the last two years to delay retirement.
The stock-market decline has had a “sobering effect” on older Americans, according to the study released by AARP. The survey found that three-quarters of those who lost money in the market said their losses had altered their lifestyles, work plans or expectations about retirement.
Here’s a look:
– Among stock owners who said they have lost money and have not yet retired, about 20 percent said they already have postponed retirement as a result of their losses. The majority of these stock owners (72 percent) originally had plans to retire before 65 and almost all expected to retire before 70. Now only 31 percent expect to retire before 65, and 22 percent say they’ll be working past age 69.
– Of those who have lost money in stocks, 33 percent are currently working either full or part time, and 3 percent returned to work after March 2000 as a result of their losses. Another 12 percent of stock owners who are neither working nor looking for work now said that they may have go back to work as a result of the losses.
More Top Picks Beauty And Personal Care
David Certner, AARP’s director of federal affairs, said the survey reinforces the need for stronger pension protections for employees. The survey interviewed 1,013 Americans between 50 and 70 who said they own stocks.
Payback time
Who says the government doesn’t work for the little guy–sometimes? The U.S. Department of Labor announced it collected $175 million in back wages in fiscal 2002–making it the largest amount collected by the department in a decade.
The Employment Standards Administration’s Wage and Hour Division credited the increase to an effort to target low-wage industries. The number of garment workers getting back wages increased by 50 percent; agriculture workers, by 30 percent; and health-care workers, by 20 percent.
The bulk of the back wages collected–$143 million for 241,568 workers–was for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which regulates overtime and wage issues.
Also, almost $3.7 million in back wages was collected for violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act–a 25 percent increase over fiscal 2001.
Going “poof” with paper
As paper checks disappear, so may some Fed jobs.
Federal Reserve workers were warned last month that some employees at its 12 regional banks may lose their jobs because the volume of checks being cleared by the Fed is dropping.
According to the Washington Post, reserve banks handled about 40 percent of the nation’s checks. And more than 5,000 of the Fed’s 23,000-plus employees help process those checks.
But electronic payments and a consolidation in the financial services industry are cutting down on paper. According to a Fed study, the number of checks written was 42.5 billion in 2000, down from 49.5 billion in 1995.
A hang-up with telemarketers
Telemarketers already get their earful of job-related insults, what with hang-ups and irate tirades from the interrupted. Here’s one more: In a Gallup poll that asked Americans to rate the honesty of people in different professions, telemarketers scored the lowest–below car salesmen, lawyers and stockbrokers.
Nurses topped the list as the most ethical and honest; 79 percent gave the profession a “high” or “very high” rating. Another health profession, pharmacists, ranked second with 67 percent of respondents giving them high or very high ratings. Filling out the top 10 were military officers (65 percent), high school teachers (64), medical doctors (63), policemen (59), clergy (52), funeral directors (40), bankers (36) and accountants (35).
By contrast, only 5 percent of respondents gave telemarketers a high or very high rating.