NEWS RELEASE
Bounded choices
UniSA
study highlights retirees’ financial squeeze
July 7, 2003
We all hope that we’ll have
choices in our living arrangements when we retire, but the disturbing
truth is that many lifestyle choices are likely to become limited to an
increasingly smaller group in the future – home owners in long-term
relationships who have a history of continuous, stable employment.
That is the
major finding of a UniSA study looking at how people’s life and health
choices are affected by a range of factors from government policy to
individual circumstances and attitudes.
The project,
Bounded choices: limits on decision making about life transitions by
older people, brings together nine researchers from disciplines
ranging from psychology and social work to nursing and management.
Researchers
conducted in-depth interviews with 60 participants (half aged between
45-65 and half older than 65) covering topics such as work history,
financial security and living arrangements – and have now produced five
papers discussing the results and their implications.
One of the
project’s chief investigators, Dr Rob Ranzijn from UniSA’s School of
Psychology, says that while the research confirmed that those with a
stable employment history who were in long term relationships were able to
exercise a greater degree of choice in their retirement, many of those
that fell into this group still felt financially insecure.
“Of the
sample, 50 per cent felt financially insecure and I think that’s a real
worry. Even those who had done ‘the right thing’ by saving and investing
didn’t necessarily feel secure,” Dr Ranzijn says.
“Two thirds
of the participants expected that they would have to rely on the
government to some degree, and half of that group think they will be
totally reliant.”
“The bottom
line is unless the government becomes more interventionist, there may be
many people in their old age with a poor quality of life.”
Dr Ranzijn
says renewed government support for public housing and public transport
will be crucial to many older people’s quality of life in the future – and
that both the government and employers are going to have to look closely
at the structure of working life.
“People are
living longer and are going to have to work longer to support themselves
in retirement, but at the moment there are a lot of barriers stopping
middle aged people from re-entering the workforce which need to be
addressed.”
He says
employers need to be made aware of the advantages of recruiting and
retaining older workers and the value to be gained from employing more
permanent workers instead of following the trend towards short term
contracts.
Another of
the project’s chief investigators, Associate Professor Margaret Patrickson
from UniSA’s International Graduate School of Management, says a predicted
shortage of workers in the next five to ten years mean that employers will
have to do more to keep employees of all ages happy and productive.
“Employers
need to come to terms with the changing demographics and the fact that
they will probably have four generations in the workforce – those aged up
to 25, 25 to 40 year olds, 40 to 55 year olds, and those over the age of
55 – and will have to become more adept at managing the different needs of
these groups.”
More flexible
working conditions, improved occupational health and safety practices and
financial counselling – particularly in relation to superannuation
entitlements – are some of the areas Patrickson says warrant special
attention.
“In the past
employers have largely been focussed on trying to reduce overt age
discrimination, but they are going to have to do more than that if they
want to retain experienced staff,” she says.
Media contacts:
Dr Rob Ranzijn
ph: (08) 8302 4468 mobile 0408 616 313
Associate
Professor Margaret Patrickson ph: (08) 8302 0433 mobile
0419846415
Charlotte
Knottenbelt ph: (08) 8302 0578 mobile: 0439 807 004
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