This is the second in a series of columns on ageing that will appear each fortnight in The Royal Gazette.

Government has just passed a bill to raise the mandatory retirement age for civil servants, and also made provision for them to be re-employed by Government without losing their pension benefits. What is behind this push to extend our eligible working years? Why would anyone want to work past the earliest possible retirement date?

It is interesting to note that a fixed retirement age is legislated only in the Government sector. Within the private sector, retirement age is based on corporate or private pension fund policies.

The standard retirement age of 65 is actually based on a myth. The idea came out of Europe’s heavy industrial era, and it Otto von Bismarck of Germany who proposed the world’s first old-age social insurance at age 70, beginning in 1889. It was not until 1916 that the retirement age in Germany was lowered to 65, and other countries followed suit.

The myth of this retirement age is that Bismarck wasn’t giving very much away. Life expectancy in the early 1900s was approximately 46 years, depending on your class, gender, race, geographical location, and type of work. If we were to apply Bismarck’s idea now, it would be like Government and employers saying, “We promise you a pension — when you turn 100”.

The German plan was based on the idea that “— those who are disabled from work by age and invalidity have a well-grounded claim to care from the state”. The key word here is disabled, and herein lies the rub. Never before have so many lived so long, and never have so many lived with so many chronic diseases (such as heart disease, diabetes, etc.). But, also, never have there been so many healthy, educated, older adults who are perfectly capable of working past the age of 65.

The average life expectancy is now approximately 77, and you need only read the inside back page of this newspaper to know that we are living into our 80s, 90s, and even 100s. In fact, the population of those over 80 is the fastest growing segment of our population. This is why we call it an ageing population, and we’re not alone. Ageing populations affect every man, woman and child in Bermuda, Japan, Canada, UK, the USA, and many more countries around the world.

What does this mean for you and me, and the civil servants who may be able to stay in their jobs until age 70, or those who may now be eligible to return to work for Government and not lose their pensions?

I recently spoke with a gentleman in Hamilton about retirement and the high cost of living in Bermuda.

“If you are having trouble paying your bills now, while you are working” I asked, “how are you going to manage on a pension?” He replied that he hadn’t thought of it that way. Hmmm— perhaps we should all start thinking about it — and soon.

The baby boom generation (born 1946-1964) is just getting ready to retire. The oldest of them turn 65 in 2011. This will increase the brain drain out of our workplaces. The baby boomers carry with them knowledge, skills, experience, a strong work ethic and, very often, a strong desire to stay in employment.

With the baby boom generation beginning its exodus from the workforce, where will Bermuda turn to find replacement employees? We have a “less than replacement” birth rate.

Our population is only growing through immigration, most of which is on temporary work permit, and this is straining our infrastructure. At the same time, our sub-standard public education system is failing too many young people just when their skills are most needed to fill all the jobs that will soon be left vacant by retiring baby boomers.

Government is beginning to take progressive steps to address the challenges ahead. Now all employers and employees must realise that business cannot, and will not, be ‘as usual’. Employers can maintain their workforces by retaining, retraining, and recruiting older workers. Employees can continue to work and pay into the system, and their savings accounts, in preparation for a lengthy retirement.

This is crucial because, with longer life expectancies, if we continue to enforce retirement at 65 or even younger it can last for 30 or more very expensive years. This is reality, not myth.Marian Sherratt is Executive Director, Bermuda Council on Ageing. She writes on issues concerning ageing each fortnight in The Royal Gazette. Send email responses to info@bdaca.org.