RETIREMENT AGE

According to thefreedictionary.com, retirement means withdrawal from your position or occupation. People usually retired because of their age, physical condition, health, and so on. In many countries, retirement age varies between 55-70. In Indonesia, the employees enter their retirement phase on age 55-56. But there are some employees that have to retire early because of their dissabilities to work.

The retirement age varies from country to country but it is generally between 55 and 70. In some countries this age is different for male and females. Sometimes certain jobs, the most dangerous or fatiguing ones in particular, have an earlier retirement age .
In the United States, while most view 65 as normal retirement age, many retire before then, sometimes with contributory causes such as job-loss, disability or wealth. However, the Old Age Survivors Insurance or OASI, better known as the Social Security system has age 62 as the earliest retirement age. Normal retirement age for Social Security has historically been age 65 to receive unreduced benefits, but it is gradually increasing to age 67. For those turning 65 in the year 2008 full benefits will be payable beginning at age 66.
The retirement age in India for public sector employees is enhanced from 58-60 years in July 2007. In Malaysia the retirement age has just recently been raised from 55 years to 56 years.
Many politicians, scientists, lawyers, television anchors, and professors still work well into their 70s, however some actors, models, athletes, and musicians only work until their 30s.
Military members of the US Armed Forces may elect to retire after 20 years of active duty. (http://www.wikipedia.org/)

The average retirement age is defined as the average age at which individuals within a certain group or demographic retire from employment. The average retirement age is not a stable number that remains the same over generations. Instead, it changes, varying according to trends in employment, retirement, and life expectancy. For example, in the United States, the average age at which individuals retired in 1910 was 74 years old. In 2002, however, the average retirement age was 62. (http://www.wisegeek.com/)

To answer questions about normal retirement age, the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office (1982) conducted national surveys of adults 60 years of age and older in four industrialized nations --- Japan, USA, England, and France. A much larger percentage of the men over 60 in Japan were in the labor force (57%) than in the USA (33%), England (13%), and France (8%).
When asked, “What do you think is the best age to retire?” a majority of the older men in England and France said 60 years of age. In sharp contrast, only 14% of the older men in Japan and the USA, in proportion of older men who favored saving while working was at least twice that advising reliance on social security. (Santrock 1997:559)

Sociologist Alex Inkeles and Chikako Usui (1989) believe that these cross-cultural data suggest that the marked differences in the rate of employment among those over 60 in Japan and the USA, compared to England and France, are mainly due to attitudes and values about work, and about reliance on oneself (and on relatives, in the case of Japan) rather than on the government and its social security system. (Santrock1997:560)

Beside the cultural factors, there are some other facors that cause retirement. It finds that retireesare in poorer health than workers of the same age and are more likely to have a condition that limits or prevents work. The younger a worker was when leaving a job, the more likely the departure was involuntary due to job loss or poor health. In addition, workers with pension coverage are more likely to retire than workers without pension coverage, while workers who would lose health insurance coverage upon retirement are less likely to retire.

In conclusion, I think retirement age can't be decided generally, there are some factors that effects an employee to retire. But it is better for older employees to enjoy the rest of their lives and giving chances for the younger employees who could do the job more optimally.

References

Santrock, John W. Life-Span Development 6th Edition. 1997. Texas: Brown & Benchmark Publishers.

Retirement. Retrieved May 22, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.wikipedia.org/

What is the average retirement age? Retrieved May 22, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-average-retirement-age.htm.

Definition of retirement. Retrieved May 22, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/retirement