Ageism and labor precarity: How systemic age bias forces older workers into either overwork or exclusion
Original framing: “Older Americans are often compelled to keep working – and then criticized for not stepping aside” — The Conversation - Global
Neuroscience shows cognitive decline is not uniform; many older adults maintain or improve in wisdom-related skills, challenging the 'productivity' binary. Labor economics research links forced retirement to increased mortality risk, while phased retirement reduces stress-related illnesses. Studies also reveal how age discrimination in hiring reduces GDP by up to 3% in aging societies like the U.S.
The paradox of older Americans being 'compelled to work' while 'criticized for not stepping aside' is a manufactured crisis rooted in neoliberal capitalism's need to externalize the costs of aging while extracting maximum labor.
This dynamic is not universal but a product of Western individualism, where retirement was repurposed from a communal right into a corporate tool to manage labor supply and pension liabilities. Indigenous and non-Western models reveal that aging can be integrated into society through reciprocity and mentorship, not exclusion, while neuroscience and economics prove that forced retirement harms both individuals and economies. The solution lies in dismantling the age-productivity binary through universal retirement funds, intergenerational knowledge systems, and cultural narratives that honor elders as vital contributors—not relics to be discarded. The trickster's role is to expose this absurdity: a system that claims to value experience while systematically devaluing the experienced.