Monday, November 12, 2012

The graying of South Florida's work force


Just as happened in Aussie in teh 90's retiress realized they needed to continue to work and fantastic new business's where created. aivars lode

By Donna Gehrke-White and Dana Williams, Sun Sentinel
4:08 a.m. EST, November 12, 2012
At 82, Joseph Mastropierro is planning on working forever.
The former engineer who became an entrepreneur is now trying to open a deli in Dania Beach.
"I want to make good sandwiches and salads," said Mastropierro, who is waiting for the necessary permits to open his deli. "My grandfather had a deli in Italy, and he taught me a lot of things when I was a little boy."
The deli will help him supplement his Social Security check, he added.
He is not alone with wanting to earn extra money. The nest egg is cracked — or maybe was too small to begin with — so more South Florida seniors are marching back to work.
Broward women have almost doubled their rate of working past 65, once the traditional U.S. age of retirement, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Palm Beach women have more than doubled their percentages of working past 65, the Census found, while the rate of men in both counties have jumped too. Now as many as a quarter of South Florida men 65 and older are working or looking for work.
The reason?
Vanishing pensions, not enough savings, the gyrating stock markets, zero interest in bank accounts and Social Security checks that fail to cover all the bills. The average Social Security payment is just over $1,200 a month.
"People who retired are going back to work because they need the extra money," said Edith S. Lederberg, executive director of the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Broward County. "I think it is a growing trend because people are living longer."
Lederberg herself just turned 83 last month and is still working full-time — despite a recent hospital stay. Like many other women of her generation she said she stayed home to raise a family and now relishes working.
"I don't plan to leave as long as I am a positive force in the agency," Ledenberg declared.
Around the nation, more seniors are holding down jobs when even a decade ago they would have been at home or traveling. They range from doctors to Walmart greeters.
The number of Americans 65 and older still employed has jumped 69 percent in just a decade, according to October data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Just in a year, 8 percent more Americans above 65 were working in October — the largest percentage jump in at least a decade, BLS reported.
An elder workforce has become a signature of some businesses. Publix, for example, has more than 2,000 workers 65 and above in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, said spokeswoman Kimberly Reynolds. That's almost more than a quarter of the 7,000 Publix employees in Florida who are 65 and above, Reynolds said.
"Those numbers almost double," she said in an e-mail, "when we look at how many associates we employ over the age of 60."
Publix, which won a national award for its hiring of seniors, benefits from its mature work force that "brings experience, a strong work ethic and a positive, friendly attitude to Publix," Reynolds added.
Others have used their later years to concentrate on civic and volunteer work.
Jack Brady, a retired schoolteacher, was first elected to the North Lauderdale City Commission in 1988 while he was still working. Now 70 and a popular re-elected mayor, Brady said he likes concentrating on his city full-time.
He said he runs his city to help others — from saving taxpayers' money to organizing a group of volunteers to clean a yard of an elderly person who can't.
"God helps us, giving the strength to do things for other people," he said.
Still, Boca Raton's Jack Weglinski, who at one time had his own business, said health may force people to cut short their working years and he's glad he saved to retire early.
"I took early Social Security at age 62 and am now 67," he said, "so, even if I die today, at least I got something."
Many younger workers are paying attention to the new reality and think Social Security benefits will be reduced – or even eliminated – by the time they reach retirement age.
That's why Brian Javeline, 47, of Coral Springs is regularly working out of a gym. He wants to stay fit to work well into old age.
"You have to be a realist," said Javeline, who started the contractors' website,MyOnlineToolbox.com.
Indeed, he said he doesn't expect to ever quit working
"The word retirement should be retired," he quipped.

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