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Had an interesting discussion at my most recent leadership course this past week. The course is centered around teaching Veterans how to use their pre-existing leadership skills to better the community of Pittsburgh through learning about the region and the issues we face here in Southwestern PA. This past week's class was a look at civil engineering, that is, looking at how Pittsburgh went from this dark, dusty, dirty city into a leader of in banking, healthcare, and IT.
As part of this discussion we took at look at the future of the region and one huge issue is looming over the horizon for the region. That issue is the forthcoming retirement of the area's baby boomers which will leave about 106,000 jobs open in the area. Most of these jobs are in the manufacturing fields but without a steady increase in population, the region is looking at the chance of not being able to fill these jobs.
This got me thinking, if SWPA is looking at having this issue, what does the rest of the country look like? We have seen a huge shift from people entering what I classify as "hands-on jobs" and moving to more jobs outside of the factories. We have seen more and more automation taking up the slack but even the robots rely on us to program, maintain and supervise their work.
So, I figured one of the fastest ways to get some sort of "pulse" from across the country I would reach to everyone here on RallyPoint and ask, is your region of the country seeing this? If so, are plans being formed to ensure that these jobs, most of which are critical to the overall success of the country are filled? Is the answer to ask the baby boomers to hold out a little longer before retiring? To any of the baby boomers on the site, are you planning to retire soon or stay on the workforce?
As part of this discussion we took at look at the future of the region and one huge issue is looming over the horizon for the region. That issue is the forthcoming retirement of the area's baby boomers which will leave about 106,000 jobs open in the area. Most of these jobs are in the manufacturing fields but without a steady increase in population, the region is looking at the chance of not being able to fill these jobs.
This got me thinking, if SWPA is looking at having this issue, what does the rest of the country look like? We have seen a huge shift from people entering what I classify as "hands-on jobs" and moving to more jobs outside of the factories. We have seen more and more automation taking up the slack but even the robots rely on us to program, maintain and supervise their work.
So, I figured one of the fastest ways to get some sort of "pulse" from across the country I would reach to everyone here on RallyPoint and ask, is your region of the country seeing this? If so, are plans being formed to ensure that these jobs, most of which are critical to the overall success of the country are filled? Is the answer to ask the baby boomers to hold out a little longer before retiring? To any of the baby boomers on the site, are you planning to retire soon or stay on the workforce?
Transition
Jobs
Retirement
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 4
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Yes, then those of us GenX can finally move in to the Sr. positions that the boomers should have retired from years ago
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The other problem is the "brain drain" associated with the exodus. I was watching it on the DoD civilian side. My old command is making the same mistakes we got over 25 years ago. So there may be jobs but the efficiency is taking a serious hit. Puget Sound Naval Shipyard has an exodus going on now and they're hiring two for every one retiree because they're trying to reverse the flow knowing they'll have attrition in the "twofer" group. They lock in dry dock scheduling 7 years in advance now and there is no wiggle room.
Looking at the numbers, a third of retirement eligible have no retirement savings. That is frightening as everyone hits a point where they can't work anymore. Another third have some but nowhere near the $1M plus the financial gurus say you need at minimum. (You'll need more BTW) I believe one of the problems is folk don't look at retirement correctly. For me I wanted to keep it simple. How much do I want to make an hour for doing nothing? The old rule of thumb of pay everything off and live off 40% of what you used to make pretty much has you staying at home and knitting. Baby boomers live longer, are physically more active than their parents were, hence need more money to continue an active lifestyle. So the lesson here for you X, Y, Zers is to learn from this and implement retirement growth when you are 20, not 55. Not think, not defer, not start/stop, not hope. Hope isn't a strategy. So if you're not, complaining isn't a strategy either. That just makes you Baby Boomer Part Deux.
You probably figured it but I'm retired retired and am not fearful of my wife being put in the hurt locker when I check out. Still wake up at 0500 out of habit but hey, there's a tractor outside I can do things with.
Looking at the numbers, a third of retirement eligible have no retirement savings. That is frightening as everyone hits a point where they can't work anymore. Another third have some but nowhere near the $1M plus the financial gurus say you need at minimum. (You'll need more BTW) I believe one of the problems is folk don't look at retirement correctly. For me I wanted to keep it simple. How much do I want to make an hour for doing nothing? The old rule of thumb of pay everything off and live off 40% of what you used to make pretty much has you staying at home and knitting. Baby boomers live longer, are physically more active than their parents were, hence need more money to continue an active lifestyle. So the lesson here for you X, Y, Zers is to learn from this and implement retirement growth when you are 20, not 55. Not think, not defer, not start/stop, not hope. Hope isn't a strategy. So if you're not, complaining isn't a strategy either. That just makes you Baby Boomer Part Deux.
You probably figured it but I'm retired retired and am not fearful of my wife being put in the hurt locker when I check out. Still wake up at 0500 out of habit but hey, there's a tractor outside I can do things with.
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