Book: Global Aging Spurring Globalization, with Younger Countries Poised For Growth

The New York Times Magazine has published an extensive excerpt from a new book by Ted Fishman (Shock of Gray: The Aging of the World's Population and How it Pits Young Against Old, Child Against Parent, Worker Against Boss, Company Against Rival, and Nation Against Nation) in which he, looking at aging demographics globally, argues that he pace of global aging is quickened by the speed and scope of globalization, that these intertwined dynamics bear on the international competition for wealth and power, and that the high costs of keeping our aging population healthy and out of poverty has caused the United States and other rich democracies to lose their economic and political footing. Thus, "[c]ountries on the rise amass wealth and geopolitical clout by refusing to bear those costs. Older countries lose work to younger countries."

Among the many examples Fishman offers of how countries are differing in their approaches to aging populations he shows what China is doing to lure the world’s production and capital while its work force is young.

In large part, it does this by denying meaningful pensions and health care to its people today. Not only do the vast majority of elderly Chinese have little more than their meager savings, but today’s workers have pensions so measly as to be irrelevant. To keep the cost of manufacturing in China low for the rest of the world, the young Chinese work force is, for now, rarely provided more than token pensions, health care or disability insurance. In aging, developed countries, older workers with long tenure are usually at their peak in terms of pay and the cost of their benefits. Here in the United States, for example, health care costs for workers who are between 50 and 65 are, on average, almost two times what they are for their peers in their 30s and 40s. When the median age of workers climbs in the United States, so does the cost of insurance their employers must buy for them.

However, Fishman also points out that the United States is not in the same boat as many rich countries where aging populations have taken hold. where balization can take hold with remarkable swiftness. Thus, Japan was one of the youngest countries in the world until around 1950, and now may be the world’s oldest. In contrast, the United States, while subject to the same two big trends of longer lives and smaller families, is aging much more slowly due to the arrival of young immigrants, including millions from Latin America.

Fishman also addresses various aspects of the aging workforce. For the United States, he notes one apparent contradiction: that at the same time that unemployment among older workers is at a peak, the percentage of older people with jobs is also near a high, because more people must work to make ends meet. He also points out that there is a transformation starting of older workers into a giant contingent workforce. He also suggests that looking at what is happening in "older" countries can help inform where the United States is heading:

In Japan, retirees from the biggest companies are well provided for, but for many of the rest — workers at smaller companies, the self-employed — the fear of outliving their money is real. One in five elderly Japanese lives in poverty. So the Japanese stay on the job when they can. Since 2006, the number of Japanese still working after the customary retirement age of 60 has risen by more than 11 million. Most are officially retired but are back at their companies, under contract. They typically earn about half their former wages.

Source: New York Times Magazine "As Populations Age, a Chance for Younger Nations" (October 14, 2010)

Canada: Chamber of Commerce Issues Call for Action on Aging Workforce

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has released a call for concerted action by governments, the wider business community and other stakeholders to address the problem of Canada’s aging workforce. According to "Canada’s Demographic Crunch: Can Underrepresented Workers Save Us?", a rapidly aging population and workforce will pose a challenge for Canada’s business competitiveness and economic well-being.

The report makes practical recommendations on how best to meet and overcome that challenge. Specifically, the Chamber believes that a multipronged approach, with the aim of replenishing the skilled workforce and boosting labour productivity is needed. Among other things, the Chamber recommends that Canada draw far more extensively on underutilized sources of labor within its borders-young people, older workers, the Aboriginal population and people with disabilities-as well as attract the best and brightest immigrants. To boost labour productivity, Canadian businesses must invest in capital equipment and new technologies and integrate efficiency-enhancing innovations into their operations.

“Many companies and sectors are already facing shortages of the talented people they need to remain competitive and grow,” says [Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce]. “The grave concern for Canada’s business community and the well-being of Canadians is that workforce shortages are expected to increase within the present decade as the baby boomer generation retires in droves. The time to act is now.”

Source: The Canadian Chamber of Commerce News Releases (October 14, 2010)

Singapore: Study Finds Older Workers Want Flexibility, Employers Reluctant to Hire

Singapore's Employer Allliance has released a study showing that older workers want flexible working hours to allow them to spend more time with their families and engage in leisure activities. However, the same study shows that only 5% to 15% of new positions here are made available to older people as employers perceive them to have lower energy levels, lack relevant skills and the ability to adapt quickly.

The employee desires were reported as a result of focus groups. Workers aged 50-54 wanted a job that requires minimal travelling and provides flexible working hours. Those aged 55-59 said they wanted greater flexibility when taking long periods of leave to enjoy leisure activities such as travelling and also wanted a lighter workload.

The employer attitudes were reported as a result of a survey of 22 employers. Despite their reluctance to hire, however, the companies do value older workers who are already in their employment, because of their loyalty and wealth of knowledge.

Source: AsiaOne News "Older workers prefer flexi-work" (October 13, 2010)

Stresses on Knees of Older Workers May Lead Them to Claim Workers' Compensation

Dr. David Cooper, director of orthopedic surgery at The Knee Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, suggests that knees may be the latest challenge facing aging workers and their employers, as people in their 50s, 60s and older are stay in the workforce and find their knees bearing the brunt. However, Dr. Cooper says that "there is no scientific evidence suggesting repetitive standing causes [arthritis] to accelerate" and that employers need to be wary of workers with preexisting osteoarthritis who blame work-related activities for causing them more pain.

According to Dr. Cooper, arthritis is a disease, not a function of aging; it is genetic and therefore cannot be caused or aggravated by work tasks. He does make some suggestions to mitigate discomfort:

• Minimize the use of stairs and ladders;
• Use elevators whenever possible;
• Use foam mats to provide a cushion on hard floors;
• Wear comfortable shoes to absorb the pressure; and
• Walk around occasionally instead of constantly standing in one spot.

Source: Risk & Insurance "Orthopedic surgeon says work activities do not aggravate arthritis" (October 11, 2010)

Canada: Older Workers Landing Jobs

According to an article by Tavia Grant in The Globe and Mail, older workers in Canada have been the biggest gainers in the workforce in 2010. In September alone, there were 37,000 more jobs for workers 55 and older even though overall jobs declined. While she cites a preference among employers for experience and the fact that more older people are actively looking for work than in decades past as factors, she also notes that older workers have become more willing to take a pay cut, making their cost more comparable to someone with less experience:

“Experienced workers are a valuable resource but they also are settling for lower wages,” said Jim Geraghty, president of Happen, a Canadian network for unemployed mid-level to senior managers and executives. “People today need to be more flexible and disregard the old salary expectations.”

Statistics Canada reported a 7.7% increase in job growth over the past year among men aged 55 and older and 5.9% among women over 55, while job creation was flat among middle-aged women and youth and had grown 2.3% for men aged 25 to 54.

Source: Globe and Mail "Experience trumps age in Canadian job market" (October 8, 2010)

United Kingdom: Rise in "Silver" Apprenticeships

Belying the stereotype that people in later life are reluctant to learn new skills, statistics obtained from the Skills Funding Agency by Age UK and The Age and Employment Network (TAEN) show that the number of people aged 50-plus enrolled in apprenticeship programs has grown to a record number of over 5,000 "silver" apprentices, including over 400 people in their 60s and 13 in their 70s, with the oldest apprentice in the United Kingdom being aged 76.

Research by the former Learning and Skills Council shows most 25-plus workers use apprenticeships to develop their skills under their current employers (50%) or move on to a new job (33%). While no similar figures are available for 50-plus workers, the steep rise in the number of apprentices in this age group during the recession suggests that some 50-plus workers may have opted for apprenticeships to elude unemployment.

This growth was first noted among the 25-plus apprentices which rocketed in 2007-2008 from just 300 to 27,200 after the Government started funding apprenticeships for this age group. Prior to then, only a handful of apprentices over the age of 50 enrolled in early pilot schemes.

Sources: AgeUK News Release (October 6, 2010); Daily Telegraph "Recession sees rise of the 'silver' apprentice" (October 7, 2010)

Study Reports that "Working in Retirement" Will Become the Norm

According to a study by the Families and Work Institute (FWI) and the Sloan Center on Aging & Work, fully 75% of workers aged 50 and older expect to have retirement jobs in the future. This will be a significant change from today, where already one in five workers aged 50 and older has fully retired from his or her former career job but currently is working for pay in a new role--defined as a "retirement job."

"Working In Retirement: A 21st Century Phenomenon", co-authored by Melissa Brown, Kerstin Aumann, Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Ellen Galinsky and James T. Bond, used data from FWI's 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce and reports that, among other things, money is not the only motivation for continuing to work; 31% report that they are working to stay active, and 18% say they want to contribute and be productive. In fact, less than one in five report working in retirement due to insufficient income, though they do earn less money than those who have never retired-—the typical median yearly income among those working in retirement is $21,000 less than those who have never retired.

Writing about their work in The Huffington Post, Galinsky, Pitt-Catsouphes, and Brown point out five important differences between assumption and reality about older workers in retirement jobs:

1. Assumption: Careers are Linear; Finding: 20% of U.S. workers over 50 years old have fully retired from a job and are now working.
2. Assumption: People Work in Retirement Because They Have To; Finding: Retired workers are in the labor force both because they have to and want to.
3. Assumption: Older Workers Don't Work Very Hard; Finding: Working retirees are working hard and in some ways have better jobs than their pre-retirement jobs.
4. Assumption: There is Widespread Tension Between Older Workers and Younger Bosses; Finding: Approximately one in ten workers has a supervisor who isn't supportive when work problems arise--regardless of the difference in age between the worker and his or her supervisor.
5. Assumption 5: Working in Retirement Will Disappear As a Phenomenon When The Recession Eases; Finding: Working in retirement has become the "new normal."

Source: Families and Work Institute News Release (October 6, 2010)

Philippines: Older Workers in Nation without Prohibitions Against Age Discrimination

An article by Allyn Baldemor for UPI.com provides some insight into how the tough road some older workers have to hoe in the Philippines since the Labor Code does not include age among the factors that employers cannot discriminate against. A bill has been introduced in the Senate to include age as a prohibited basis, but similar legislation three years ago got nowhere. Among the things that Baldemor sites:

• Many want ads state a preferred age range for job applicants, usually 20 to 28 years old for entry-level positions and up to 44 years old for managerial levels.
• It is common for employers to assume younger individuals would be fit for the typically long hours and night shifts in call centers.
• There is a cottage industry in forged birth certificates so older workers can appear younger.

Source: UPI.com "Faded Glory: Age discrimination in the Philippines" (October 3, 2010)

Survey: 4 in 10 U.S. Workers Planning To Delay Retirement

Towers Watson has released the results of a survey showing that 40% of U.S. workers are planning to retire later than they did two years ago, and a vast majority of workers are prepared to spend less in retirement and are willing to pay more now for greater certainty in their future retirement and health benefits. In particular, older workers and those in poor health comprise the largest percentage of employees planning to delay retirement: 45% of employees in poor health plan to postpone their retirement. In being asked their reasons, 68% of older workers said to keep their health care coverage and 61% blamed the decline in the value of their 401(k) plan.

The survey--"Attitudes Part II: Employee Attitudes Toward Risk"--was conducted with 9,100 employees and found, among other things:

• more than three-quarters of older workers plan to spend less in retirement than they are spending today;
  
• employees are more willing to pay a higher amount for certainty in their retirement and health care benefits compared to 15 months ago;
  
• employees across all age groups and plan types are willing to trade higher pay increases for more generous retirement benefits and more predictable health care benefit costs.

According to Towers Watson, the survey found that 63% of respondents are actively paying off their debts to improve their financial situation, 54% are cutting back on their daily spending, and 34% are increasing their monthly savings.

“The economic crisis has had a deep effect on employees’ attitudes toward retirement and especially on risk,” said David Speier, a senior retirement consultant at Towers Watson. “Despite the signs that some employees are saving more, spending less and reducing debt as the economy stabilizes, workers continue to have a fear that they won’t be able to afford retirement — and that will have significant implications on companies’ ability to plan their future workforce needs.”

Source: Towers Watson News Release (October 5, 2010)

Study: First Boomers Continue To Work Out of Necessity

A research study prepared by the MetLife Mature Market Institute for the first group of Baby Boomers to enter retirement finds that those born between 1946 and 1955 will be forgoing the tradition of a leisure-filled life; instead, their financial obligations, among other things, will encourage many of them to remain in the workforce, some indefinitely.

According to "Early Boomers: How America’s Leading Edge Baby Boomers Will Transform Aging, Work & Retirement," while, in the past, about three-quarters of men and women would be fully retired within four to five years from their 65th birthday, by the time the first Boomers approach age 70, fewer than half of those ages 65 to 69 will have retired. Among other findings:

• over the next 10 years aging Early Boomers will result in a 50% rise in the number of people 65 to 74 years old, a growth rate for that cohort not seen in 50 years;
  
• there are 1.3 million more Early Boomer women than men;
  
• the labor force participation rate of Early Boomer men and women is at a 15-year high (65.2%);
  
• among working Early Boomers, three-quarters of women and three-fifths of men had white-collar jobs that paid more than other jobs and were less physically demanding, which facilitates more of them staying in the workforce over the next decade.

Source: MetLife Mature Market Institute News Release (September 30, 2010)

Australia: Labor Participation Rates Rise for Older Workers

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), in an article "Older People and the Labour Market," reports that the participation rate of Australians aged 55 and over has increased from 25% to 34% over the past 30 years, with most of the increase occurring in the past decade. In 2009-10, around one third of older Australiana (about 1.9 million) were participating in the labor force, making up 16% of the total labour force, up from around 10% three decades earlier.

Breaking the numbers into smaller age bands, ABS reports that 71% of Australians aged 55-59 years were participating in the labor force, 51% of the 60-64 year olds, and 24% of those aged 65-69 years. All of these numbers were up significantly over the last 20 years. However, the participation rates of people aged 70 years and over remained comparatively low, ranging between 2.7% and 4.5% over the last 30 years.

Among other things, the report also showed where older people were working:

In the year to June 2010, around two in five employed men aged 55 years and over worked as Managers (23%) or Professionals (20%). Older men were more likely to be employed in these higher skilled occupations than their younger counterparts and less likely to be employed in more physically demanding occupations such as Technicians and Trade Workers (18%) and Labourers (11%). However, there were 113,000 men aged 55 years and over working as Labourers. Half of these worked as either Construction and Mining Workers (16%), Factory Workers (16%) or Farm, Forestry and Garden Workers (13%).

The most common occupations among women aged 55 years and over were Clerical and Administrative Workers (28%), followed by Professionals (25%). While these were also the most common occupation groups among younger women, those aged 55 years and over were more likely to be employed as Managers and Clerical and Administrative Workers than their younger counterparts, and less likely to be employed as Sales Workers. There were 72,800 women aged 55 years and over employed as Labourers, more than half (54%) of whom worked as Cleaners and Laundry Workers.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics Social Trends (September 2010)

New Book on Managing the Older Worker

According to a review in the magazineCanadian Business by Jasmine Budak, Peter Cappelli and Bill Novelli, in their new book Managing the Older Worker: How to Prepare for the New Organizational Order, make the case that "as life expectancies rise, more and more managers will be supervising people twice their age, starting with the already–lingering baby boomers."

Among other things, the authors "urge employers to acknowledge both the value of older employees (for training, mentoring and their corporate knowledge) and their workplace needs (flexibility, respect)." Employers will need to make bridges over the generational gap or face a looming labor shortage. "If you ignore [boomers]," says Novelli, "you're ignoring a third of the workforce."

Source: Canadian Business Magazine "How to manage an aging workforce" (Oct. 11, 2010)

Japan: Delayed Retirements and Employer Preparedness

According to Florian Kolbacher, Japanese organizations have not prepared themselves well for the aging of the world's population, even though Japan is by far the most severely affected nation. Japan's "Year 2007 Problem" (referring to the year in which the first Japanese Boomers turn 60, and thus move into mandatory retirement) could potentially crippling Japanese business from the widespread loss of industry-specific knowledge.

A major reason for concern among Japanese businesses is that Japanese corporate culture has a very distinctive management approach, especially within large organizations. Knowledge is primarily tacit, or taken for granted, and frequently absorbed over long periods of time as workers slowly advance through organizations as they age. Subtleties associated with this type of knowledge, though, are difficult to quantify, document, or access for a new hire.

However, Kobacher reports, 2007 labor crisis failed to materialize, because Japanese Baby Boomers did not begin retiring en masse as expected, but continued working. Neverthless, this has only accentuated other business and social issues in Japanese culture.

Now, though, as older workers remain on the job longer, they are finding that their jobs are changing. "Younger employees, previously lower within a company’s hierarchy, now work in higher positions and are even sometimes direct superiors to their elders," Kohlbacher explains. "Older workers, when rehired, are often managed by former colleagues and even subordinates; hence these older workers are often ranked lower in the hierarchy than younger employees - a difficulty in Japan because of the strongly ingrained seniority system."

Kobacher's comments derive from a presentation to American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) on "Management Implications of Demographic Change in Japan: An Innovation Perspective" in August 2010, published in an article Baby Boomer: What happened to the ‘Year 2007 Problem?" in the April 2010 edition of ACCJ Journal.

Sources: Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College News Release (September 13, 2010); News Release (September 15, 2010)

United Kingdom: Research Study Shows Employers Not Ready for Aging Workforce

According to research by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), only 14% of managers in the United Kingdom consider their organization well-prepared to cope with an aging workforce, despite the impending abolition of the Default Retirement Age (DRA) and the fact that a third of UK workers will be aged over 50 by 2020. In their published report--"Managing an Ageing Workforce," CMI and CIPD report that 34% claim board-level recognition of ageing workforce issues is non-existent, despite the fact that 93% see value in retaining the knowledge and experience of older workers.

Among other findings: 43% of managers are not well-informed of their organisation’s retirement policies, 59% note that there is a perception that it is hard for younger employees to manage older people, 40% claim having experienced age discrimination at some stage in their careers, and 41% state that their workplaces are not age diverse.

CMI’s director of policy and research, Petra Wilton, said: “The age profile of the UK workforce is changing, yet UK businesses are woefully underprepared for the impact this will have on their business. This latest research makes it clear that those at senior level in particular are failing to take the issue seriously and that discrimination is still too frequent. If action isn’t taken, employees who are in the 50+ age bracket will feel undervalued and will have no incentive to carry on working beyond normal retirement age. The loss of their talents and considerable experience by businesses not prepared to adapt is reckless in the extreme.”

Dianah Worman, CIPD’s diversity adviser, said: “In difficult economic times businesses are not galvanising the talent and skills available to help them perform more competitively. Employers will need to keep on their toes to respond appropriately to the phasing out of the DRA next year, which will have widespread implications. Clearly businesses already recognise the value of older workers, but this knowledge needs to be matched with appropriate action. We know from this latest research that managers aren’t being supported or trained appropriately in the management of older workers, for example, but it is also apparent that the needs and preferences of older workers have to be better addressed.”

Source: Chartered Management Institute Press Release (September 16, 2010)

United States: Analysis of Increased Labor Participation Rates of Older Workers

An Economic Letter ("Labor Force Participation and the Future Path of Unemployment"), authored by Joyce Kwok, Mary Daly, and Bart Hobijn, all of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, finds, among other things, that in the case of the labor force participation rate of older workers, secular trends generally overwhelm cyclical patterns. Thus, while participation of workers 55 and over consistently fell from the 1950s through the 1990s, when Social Security, pension, and retiree health benefits increased substantially and conditions were generally favorable for early retirement, in the 1990s, as the value of those retirement programs eroded, older workers reversed the downward trend, and their labor force participation rate has risen steadily, even through cyclical downturns.

Many factors potentially explain the recent increase in older-worker labor force participation. People in this age group increasingly are able to delay retirement because they are healthier and longer lived than previous generations of older workers. They have an incentive to work longer in order to build assets in defined-contribution pension plans and to qualify for larger Social Security benefits. And the rapid growth of health-care costs and decreased availability of retiree health benefits push older people to continue working in order to get health insurance, at least until they are 65 and eligible for Medicare.

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter 2010-27 (September 13, 2010)

Survey: AARP Takes Closer Look at Impact of Recession on 45+ Lower Income Workers

AARP has published results of its investigation of the struggles lower-income older adults are facing during the recession. Among other things, the Closer Look June 2010 Survey found that nearly six in 10 Americans 45+ who make less than $25,000 a year say they are either "not at all" or "not too" confident they will have enough money to pay medical and living expenses in retirement, compared to 36 percent of higher income adults.

On work-related matters, 28% stopped contributing to retirement savings in the past six months, and 14% of adults 45 to 64 reported having to prematurely withdraw funds from retirement savings vehicles. In addition, with many older workers currently facing extended unemployment, 63% said that, based on what they have experienced or observed, older workers face age discrimination in the workplace.

Source: AARP News Release (September 13, 2010)

United Kingdom: Survey Suggests Small Employers Reluctant to Hire Older Workers

A quarter of the 669 United Kingdom business owners surveyed by Smallbusiness.co.uk say that they would not hire someone over the age of 60. In addition, 15% say that would "maybe" take on an older worker, while 6$ would only do so if the employee was part-time.

Peter Barnett, CEO of business strategy advisors Sales Managed, says: "Many employers have reservations that older people would be set in their ways. Some managers want their employees to do things their way and they see younger people as more ready to conform."

Juan Lobato, founder of website building firm Basekit, comments: "A factor for managers could be how much energy the person has, as energy can decrease with age."

Source: www.smallbusiness.co.uk/ News Release (September 10, 2010)

Best Practices: Integrating Generations In IT Department

Writing in CIO Insight, Don Reisinger has provided a set of practical recommendations for encourage all employees to buy into the technology strategies and process changes you have implemented--including older workers are having trouble adjusting to this new normal, and that adjustment process is probably cutting into corporate productivity. He suggests strategies that can help an IT department make older workers more comfortable with new technologies, new processes, and agile thinking.

Among other things, he encourages adoption of connected technologies, including Blackberries, Facebook, and text messaging, even if older workers are reluctant. On the other hand, however, he suggests sticking to Windows platforms that older workers may be more comfortable with. Most importantly, he says to bring in the hard data:

Prove that new processes and technologies are helping the company. Older employees want to see the organization succeed. Given proof that new solutions are working, they will be far more likely to go along with these.

Source: CIO Insight "Strategic Tech Slideshow:
Help Your Employees Leverage Technology" (September 6, 2010)

Case Study: BMW and Equipping the Factory for Older Workers

In "The Globe: How BMW Is Defusing the Demographic Time Bomb" from the March 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review, the authors looked at how BMW responded to what looked like an inevitable decline in the productivity of an aging workforce in the years ahead with an innovative, bottom-up approach for improving productivity. Subsequently, BMW has garnered more publicity for their efforts.

Rather than forcing its aging workers to retire, or even fire them, BMW management tinkered with one assembly line in one division of a huge auto plant, and turned it older overnight, staffing it so that the average age of workers would be 47 (what it's projected to be seven years from now). Then, in responses to asking the workers how to make things better, the company says it made 70 small changes in the workplace, to cut the chance of errors and reduce physical strain.

When workers said their feet hurt, the company made them special shoes, and put in wooden floors. Some got a place to sit: a hairdresser's chair, modified for the assembly line.

Rudolph Mohr, 56, has been working here for 35 years. He finally got a chance to stretch - right on the factory floor. "When I go home, I have more energy," Mohr said.

Some tools were improved, and new computer screens were introduced, with bigger type.

The direct investment in the 2017 line project was almost negligible, approximately €20,000. But the 70 changes increased productivity by 7% in one year, bringing the line on a par with lines in which workers were, on average, younger.

Source: CBS News "How BMW Deals With an Aging Workforce" (September 5, 2010)

Additional sources: BBC "A Factory Fit for an Aging Workforce"

Towers Watson Reports Improvement in Older Workers' Confidence in Retirement

A survey of U.S. workers conducted by Towers Watson finds that older workers’ confidence in their ability to retire comfortably has rebounded modestly in the past year, but confidence levels remain well below those prior to the financial crisis. Specifically, 50% of workers aged 50 to 64 are very confident about having enough resources to live comfortably five years into retirement, up from 44% in March 2009, but still down from the 63% reported in 2007.

In addition, according to "Retirement Attitudes — Part I: Confidence in Retirement," fewer older workers are now concerned about reduced or eliminated benefits in their defined benefit plans or about their employer’s ability to pay some or all benefits they’ve already earned, with the percentage of older workers who are concerned that their employer will reduce the benefits they earn in the future declined from 44% in 2009 to 39% this year, while the percentage concerned their employer will eliminate benefits they earn in the future dropped from 38% to 30%.

Source: Towers Watson Press Release (September 1, 2010)