Government Increasing The Retirement Age.

Human beings have worked since the moment our species began. Whether as hunter-gatherers or now, humans have always worked for a living. Now however human beings thanks to better health, better nutrition, better health care, etc, are living longer. Living longer does not mean, however, we will be illness free. This is clearly not the case and perhaps will never be. As research overcomes one illness there will be others. Indeed, some pathogens, viruses, etc, have developed systems to combat the drugs that control them. It is an arms race between humans on one side and viruses, bacteria, etc, on the other. Look at Covid, yes we have the vaccines and that has helped tremendously but it is still around and people are still falling ill. Only this time with the vaccine (and there are side effects) most people survive Covid now. There will always be pandemics and that is how the natural world functions (whether we humans like it or not).

Once the retirement age for men in the UK was 65 and 60 for women. It was and still is in some cases the man goes out to work and the woman stays at home. Such was the world our ancestors lived in up until modern times. With the advent of women's rights, women now go out to work. Both men and women work so that they can pay their bills, pay for their mortgages, and attain a comfortable material life. Of course, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis, have affected this way of life to a certain degree. Nevertheless, the above case is the norm for many couples. In some cases, however, some men stay at home and look after the kids. People now in some cases whether male or female can work at home.

Does our way of working need to change for the 21st Century? There will always be industries where manual labour will be consistent. In hospitality, factories, etc, technology will and does play a part there too. In the office, more and more technology is playing a massive part. Now allowing people if they wish or if employers allow working at home.

During the industrial revolution, people's lives changed forever while some industries disappeared for good. However, people adapted and worked in the new industries that became available. Now there is a second industrial revolution going on with Artificial Intelligence, Robots, and all manner of tech equipment. Like the first industrial revolution, this second revolution is changing our lives and will do so as we move forward. People will retrain and are retraining in this atmosphere. However, some people have said should we park the current surge towards automation as this tech is rapidly becoming and is self-aware. Science fiction movies like 'I Robot' and the 'Terminator' franchise paint a picture of intelligent machines taking over mankind. We could be heading full force into a world as these nightmare movies paint.

Right now the retirement age is 66 for men and women. However, the government with people living longer want to up the retirement age. I read somewhere that from 6 May 2026 whoever is in power (if they follow the current government's line) will gradually raise the retirement age. So it may follow that the government will continue to raise the retirement age as the years go by. With this in mind, I spoke earlier about people living longer but because the retirement age is continually being raised (based on how long the average person lives) some may never see their retirement.

So is it time as we move into this new century we looked again at the world of work? Should we not be encouraging more of the elder workforce to retire earlier? Should we not bring down the retirement age instead? Leaving the younger workforce to come through and take over. Yes, many moan about Generation X or Z saying they do not want work at least manual work. That may be true in some cases but surely it must be wrong to tar the younger generations with the same brush.

UBI or Universal Basic Income must be brought in alongside the new tech that is changing the world of work. Of course, questions are asked will UBI be sustainable or how will we pay for it? UBI could work and it would end the current useless benefit system of Universal Credit. So in the ideal world, at least mine, the retirement age should be greatly brought down. To allow those who wish to retire early to pursue a life of creativity and happiness. Able to access their pension and UBI to maintain both a material and other forms of fulfilling lifestyles as they see fit. In a world where younger workers step forward more as is in the natural world. As AI and tech become more and more proficient workers young and old (those oldies who prefer to carry on working) will work alongside and thrive in this new environment. I'm sure this world would not be perfect there may be teething troubles but such a world has to be better than the world we have now. A world where mental health is rife because of the pressures of the modern world.

This is why we need to step back and look at the world of work. This ancient view of working for a living. That idea of defining ourselves based on what we do for a living should end. The above would end the world of work as we have known it for decades. Not ending the concept of work no but redefining it for a new age.