The US economy needs seniors to work longer. Here's how to make that happen
美国经济需要老年人延长工作时间，以下是如何实现这一目标的方法
When she retired from her job as a legal secretary for the federal government at age 62, Linda Spencer thought retirement would be a blast.
当62岁的琳达·斯宾塞从联邦政府法律秘书的职位上退休时，她认为退休对她来说是一场毁灭。
Then the Great Recession blew a hole in her savings, and free time wasn't much fun without cash to travel and buy the nice clothes she'd gotten a taste for while working at Saks Fifth Avenue decades earlier.
后来，经济大萧条让她的积蓄化为乌有，没有钱旅行、没有钱买她几十年前在萨克斯第五大道工作时喜欢的漂亮衣服，闲暇时光也变得不那么有趣了。
"I had nothing to do and I got bored and I needed money," says Spencer, 68, who laughs loudly and wears red lipstick.
68岁的斯宾塞涂着红色的口红大声笑着说：“我没什么可做的，我感到无聊，我需要钱。”
Jobs were scarce when she went out looking a couple of years ago, and so she found the federally-funded Senior Community Service Employment Program, which helps low-income seniors find employment in Northern Virginia. It pays minimum wage, or $7.25 an hour, for her to do administrative work while she learns computer skills and looks for other jobs — which she now wants for more than just the financial reasons.
几年前，当她外出寻找工作时，工作机会很少，于是她找到了联邦资助的高级社区服务就业计划，该计划帮助低收入的老年人在弗吉尼亚州北部找到工作。她在学习计算机技能和寻找其他工作的同时，她做着行政工作，她得到的是每小时7.25美元的最低工资。而她现在想要工作也不仅仅是经济方面的原因。
"It makes you feel that you're viable, that you're important, that you can contribute something to society, that you matter," says Spencer, who lives alone and doesn't have kids.
斯宾塞说：“她一个人住，没有孩子，工作让她觉得自己是有活力的，很重要的，也可以为社会做出贡献的。”
That's an increasingly common sentiment among America's seniors. And it's a good thing, too, because getting more people to work later in life could help blunt the impact of the graying population on the nation's finances, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
这是美国老年人日益普遍的共同情绪。经济合作与发展组织(Organization for Economic Cooperation And Development)的数据显示，这也是一件好事，因为让更多的人在晚年从事工作，可能有助于缓解老龄化人口对国家财政的影响。
Baby boomers are reaching retirement age rapidly, and the generations to follow are thinning as the American birth rate sinks ever lower. In March, the Census Bureau reported that by 2035, there will be more Americans over age 65 than there are children under age 18. Not only that, but fewer people in their prime have been working in recent years — which is in part due to the opioid epidemic, mass incarceration, and unaffordable child care that forces many parents to stay home.
婴儿潮（出生在第二次大战后大约二十年期间的人）一代正迅速达到退休年龄，随着美国出生率的不断下降，接下来的几代人也越来越少。今年3月，人口普查局报告说，到2035年，65岁以上的美国人将比18岁以下的儿童多。近几年来，年富力强的劳动力人口也越来越少——这在一定程度上是由于阿片类流行病、大规模监禁和许多负担不起的儿童保育费用而被迫呆在家里的父母。
That means not only will there be fewer working-age people paying into programs like Social Security and Medicare that support retirees, but there will be fewer health care and home care workers to help meet their physical and mental needs.
这不仅意味着支持退休人员的社会保障和联邦医疗保险等项目的劳动年龄人口将减少，还意味着帮助满足身心需求的医疗保健和家庭护理人员将减少。
"That's the big challenge going forward," says Keith Hall, director of the Congressional Budget Office, pointing to a chart of projected gross domestic product during a recent presentation in Washington D.C.
“这是未来的一大挑战，”国会预算办公室主任基思•霍尔表示。在最近华盛顿特区的一次演讲中，他给出一份预计的国内GDP的图表。
So far, older folks seem to be doing their best to bolster America's flagging workforce. Whether they'll be able to continue, however, depends on whether employers themselves will be able to adjust.
到目前为止，老年人似乎正在尽最大努力来支持美国日渐衰弱的劳动力。然而，他们是否能够继续下去，取决于雇主自己是否能够调整工作人员配置。
Seniors are mostly working longer because they need the money. Hikes in Social Security's retirement age, a sinking savings rate, mounting personal debt and a shift away from employer-provided pensions have made it harder than it was in the 1960s and 70s to retire.
老年人大多工作时间更长，因为他们需要钱。社会保险的退休年龄提高、不断下降的储蓄率、不断增加的个人债务以及雇主提供的远远不够的养老金使得退休比上世纪60年代和70年代更加困难。
As a result of putting in more hours and earning higher wages older people have seen their incomes rise while wages have stagnated for those who are younger — likely because today's over-60 population is much more educated than previous generations. According to an analysis by the Census Bureau, workers over age 65 saw their monthly earnings increase 80% between 1994 and 2015 when adjusted for inflation, compared to 32% for workers between ages 35 and 54.
由于工作时间的增加和收入的增加，老年人的收入增加了，而年轻人的工资却停滞不前——这很可能是因为如今的60岁以上人口比前几代人受教育程度高得多。根据人口普查局(Census Bureau)的分析，经通胀因素调整后，65岁以上的工作的人在1994年至2015年间月收入增加了80%，而35岁至54岁的工作的人月收入则增加了32%。
Meanwhile, expenses for everything from housing to health care are going up — especially for renters like Spencer. Her studio apartment in Alexandria, Virginia, with no dishwasher and a Murphy bed cost $500 a month when she moved in 19 years ago. Today, it's $1,300 per month, not including utilities.
与此同时，从住房到医疗的一切费用都在上涨——尤其是像斯宾塞这样的租房者。她住在弗吉尼亚州亚历山大市的单间公寓里，没有洗碗机和一张活动折叠床，19年前她搬进来的时候，月租500美元。现在，每月1300美元，不包括水电费。
Luckily, workers are staying healthier and no longer feel that the traditional retirement age is an expiration date. With manufacturing jobs giving way to less physical service and desk jobs, age is less of a barrier to continued employment.
幸运的是，工作的人一直保持着健康，不再认为传统的退休年龄是他们的截止日期。随着制造业的工作让位给更少的体力劳动和办公桌作业，年龄对继续就业的障碍也越来越小。
"I think it's hard to walk away from using your mind and being engaged every day, and problem solving, looking for new ways of doing things," says Nancy Peterson, who runs a job website that caters to older workers called Workforce50. "When work dwindles to nothing, it's noticeable."
南希·彼得森说：“我认为不用自己的思维，每天投入工作，解决问题，寻找新的做事方式是非常难的。” 她经营着一家名为 “WorkForce 50”的招聘网站，专门为年长的员工提供服务。“当工作种类减少到一无所有时，它是显而易见的。”
That doesn't mean older folks want to keep on working the same way they have their whole lives.
这并不意味着老年人想要以一种一层不变的方式工作一辈子。
Most prefer part-time jobs, Peterson says, to leave room for activities like volunteering or spending time with grandchildren. Those opportunities abound in low-wage jobs, some of which employers cut down to less than 32 hours a week in order to avoid having to provide health care under the Affordable Care Act.
皮特森说，大多数人更喜欢兼职工作，为志愿活动或留出空间与孙辈们共度时光。这些兼职工作机会在低工资的工作中比比皆是，其中一些雇主将每周工作时间减少到不足32个小时，以避免支付《合理医疗费用法案》而必须提供的医疗保健费用。
Kristi Sargent, who manages the employment program that Spencer works with, says she has no trouble finding seniors part-time positions as security guards, pharmacy technicians and low-tech database managers.
斯宾塞与之合作的就业项目负责人克里斯蒂•萨金特说，她毫不费力就找到了保安、药房技术员和低技术数据库经理等老年人兼职工作。
"I'm printing out job orders left and right, all day long, sending them to my participants," Sargent says. "If you want a job, you're going to find a job right now."
萨金特说:“我一整天都在打印招聘启事，把它们发给我的应聘者。”“如果你想找工作，你现在就可以找得到工作。”
Older workers are in particularly high demand for positions serving a fast-growing consumer category: People just a few years older than they are in need of health care services.
服务于快速增长的消费类别的职位对年龄较大的员工的需求特别大:仅比他们需要医疗服务职位的年龄大几岁。
Elizabeth Chavez, who runs a home care service with North Shore Community Action Programs in Peabody, Massachusetts, has been hiring as many retirement age workers as she can find, since senior clients often relate better to companions who also have gray hair.
伊丽莎白•查韦斯与在马萨诸塞州皮博迪市北岸社区行动计划中经营着一家家庭护理服务机构，她一直在尽可能多地雇佣退休年龄的员工，因为资深客户往往更容易与同样白发苍苍的同伴相处。
And plus, Chavez has found that older people don't hop from agency to agency as much as Millennials, which reduces costs associated with turnover.
此外，查韦斯还发现，年龄较大的人不会像千禧一代那样不停地在中介机构跳来跳去，这样的话降低了相关营业额的成本。
"It's a more stable workforce," she says. "It really is a forgotten market that we need to tap into if we want to be successful."
“这是一个更加稳定的劳动力队伍，”她说。“这真的是一个被遗忘的市场，如果我们想要成功，我们需要进入这个市场。”
Changing mindsets
不断改变的心态
The workplace can be a little less friendly for older people in higher-powered professions who just want to cut back their hours.
对于那些想要减少工作时间的高层人士来说，工作场所可能不那么友好。
Business careers usually end with a retirement party, leaving workers wondering what to do next. It can be difficult to find another job, since many employers are still focused on cultivating younger workers who they think might work harder or stick around longer (neither of which is necessarily true).
商业生涯通常以退休派对结束，让退休员工不知道下一步该做什么。对他们来说很难找到另一份工作，因为许多雇主仍然专注于培养年轻的员工，他们认为这些年轻员工可能会更努力工作，或者会在公司里呆得更久(这两种观点都不一定正确)。
Linda Spencer is making minimum wage doing administrative work while she learns computer skills and looks for other jobs.
图文：琳达·斯宾塞(Linda Spencer)在学习计算机技能和寻找其他工作的同时，兼顾行政工作。
"I've applied online, and people have called me up, and they say 'when did you graduate from high school?'" says Spencer. "And then they hear that, they go 'click,'" she says, as if hanging up a phone.
斯宾塞说：“我在网上申请工作，然后他们给我打电话，问我‘你什么时候高中毕业的?’”她说:“然后他们听到这些，就‘咔嚓’一声，就好像挂了电话一样。”
She's not imagining things. Research from economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that people over age 60 get fewer callbacks than people in their 30s and 40s.
她不是在想象什么。美国国家经济研究局的经济学家研究发现，60岁以上的人比三四十岁的人得到的回访电话要少。
"I think it's still kind of a Catch-22, where if there's an older person in a really key position, employers are more interested in 'How do I convince that person to stay longer?,'" says Cheryl Paullin, vice president for research at the Human Resources Research Organization. "But once a worker does leave, employers still aren't making a lot of progress in actually recruiting older workers."
人力资源研究组织(Human Resources research Organization)负责研究的副总裁谢丽尔•鲍林说：“我认为这仍然是一种进退两难的局面，如果有一位年长的人担任真正重要的职位，雇主们会更感兴趣的是‘我如何才能说服那个人呆得久些?’” “但一旦员工离职，雇主在实际招聘年长员工方面仍不能取得多大进展。”
There are a few efforts aimed at filling that gap. A group called Encore.org works to connect professionals with non-profits and local governments who need people with experience to take on short-term projects or fill less demanding roles, for example.
还有一些努力正在填补这一空白。一个名为Encore.org的组织致力于将专业人士与非营利组织和地方政府联系起来，这些机构需要有经验的人来承担短期项目，或者填补要求较低的职位。
Some employers, including the federal government, have implemented phased retirement programs that allow employees to work part-time at the end of their careers. Older workers with enough financial wherewithal will often try starting their own businesses as a bridge to full retirement, research has shown.
包括联邦政府在内的一些雇主已经实施了阶段性退休计划，允许员工在职业生涯结束时兼职。研究显示，拥有足够财力年长员工会尝试创业，以此实现完全退休。
Advocacy groups are working to convince employers that older workers are worth keeping around, countering perceptions that they can't keep up with new technology or work with younger colleagues.
支持年老工作者的团体正在努力让雇主相信年长的员工是值得留下来的，以反驳他们认为年长员工无法跟上新技术或与年轻同事共事的看法。
"We will be starting to educate publicly about the need to appreciate everybody's skill set," says Anna Maria Chavez, chief strategy officer of the National Council on Aging. "Experience and tenure is a great thing, and you don't want to destabilize your workforce."
我们将开始公开教育大家要重视每个人的技能，”全国老龄问题委员会(National Council on Aging)首席战略官安娜•玛丽亚•查韦斯表示。“经验和任期是一件好事，你不想让你的员工不稳定。”
Another thing that can help: Some training and a little bit of confidence. That's what Karon Malingo, another participant in the Senior Community Service Employment Program, learned upon being thrown into a job as an intake specialist at the program's office after seven unsatisfying years working in retail.
另一件可以帮助你的事情：训练和一点自信。这就是卡隆·马林戈——另一位参加高级社区服务就业计划的参与者——在经历了7年不满意的零售业工作后，他在该项目办公室担任招聘专员一职，此间学到的就是这一点。
She calls herself a Luddite, but took quickly to managing spreadsheets and answering email, and now feels that she would have plenty of options.
她自称是勒德分子(Luddite：强烈反对机械化或自动化的人)，但很快就开始处理电子表格和回复电子邮件，现在她觉得自己有很多选择。
"I feel so modern now. I have skills up the wazoo!" trills Malingo, 67, a slight woman with a gray pixie haircut. "They dropped me in the pool and I had to swim."
“我现在感觉很时髦。我现在技能满分！”67岁的马林戈颤抖着音说，她个子不高，留着一头灰色的精灵发型。“他们把我扔进了游泳池，我不得不去游泳。”
中英双语呈现，还可以加强英语学习哦！
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