Age of Retirement: an Insight of

Retirement is described as “the point where a person stops employment completely” in Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. Its definition is as vague as it is in reality, since it is so hard to define in what age people should stop working. Normal retirement age is estimated between 55 and 70 (www.wikipedia.org_retirement), but there are people who retire long before them, and there are people whose age far exceed them and still got paid. Because retirement age is closely related to being paid, this became a somewhat serious issue, and I think there are reasons why it is so difficult to decide in what age people should retire.

First of all, there are works that closely related to one’s productive age, which is also linked to the type of work. Productive age itself is a range of age when people can work to get paid productively (Conrad 2004:289). Work like officer, for example can only be done by people who are capable to do that. They must be sharp, active, intuitive, and communicate well with other people. And, those aspects will decrease through time. Since it could affect their performance in doing job—and ultimately affect their company profit—the company will have no choice other than to oblige them to retire.

There are also works that closely related with one’s expertise in that particular job. By “expertise”, I mean “experience”, and that is accumulated with time. In other words, there are works that force people to keep studying, experiencing, and doing it until they exceed normal retirement age. People also think that the older a man, the wiser they become. That’s why, for job like politician and judge, people tend to choose older men so they can do their work justly.

Then again, that way of thinking seems to be shifted nowadays. People don’t seem to believe those “supposed-to-be-old-and-wise” men again. People think that those people are already corrupted and bring misfortune to them. Now, people tend to choose younger men; youngsters are the agent of change, they think. West Java governor election reflect this perfectly: the one chosen to be governor are the youngest candidates.

Beside these factors, there are lot more factors. For example, one’s determination to retire and starts his/her own job or sudden accident that cause disability for work.

In conclusion, the age of retirement is difficult to be generalized. Too many factors affect it. But, one thing for sure, a person is encouraged to be in paid employment (in short, to get paid) as long as he/she doing his/her job optimally. Government and companies should (and possibly had) consider this statement to decide people’s retirement age.

References:

1. Retirement. Wikipedia the Online Encyclopedia.[Online Article]. Retrieved 8 May 2008 from the World Wide Web:www.wikipedia.com_retirement

2. Conrad, Rownan (Ed 3). (2004). Economic Encyclopedia. New Castle: Wadsworth Inc.

M. Ferdyansyah Sechan 16107056