Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes the origins and current and future implications of the retirement strategy. It proposes alternative strategies for encouraging longer work lives and ways to help workers—both young and old—to develop more retirement income assets during their work lives. The book suggests approaches that would lead to the creation of more jobs that would enable older people to stay productive longer without diminishing job opportunities for younger people. It argues that makeshift measures may prove to be politically unstable and, therefore, ineffective in "getting us through" the retirement income crises of the 1983-1989 period and that the period 1990-2010 may be more difficult than is currently predicted. The book describes the practical impediments to the adoption of a jobs strategy and explores the types of thinking and action that will be necessary to overcome these impediments.