Readers React: More older workers means a shortage of jobs

To the editor: Chris Farrell does a credible job promoting the idea that an aging workforce is a benefit and not a detriment. Unfortunately, what he doesn’t address is the ever increasing problem of a growing workforce in a world of job elimination through technological efficiencies. (“The rise of unretirement,” Op-Ed, Oct. 13)

Technology eliminates jobs. Yes, it creates, but it also eliminates, especially those jobs that historically were rungs on the ladder out of poverty.

Moreover, because our aging population is working into the twilight years, those members add to the already excessive pool of workers, creating an untenable surplus. Since they are often educated, they take what should be well-paying jobs away from younger generations, in turn driving down the average wage earned.

This change is creating a nation in which the poor are only going to get more dependent on government handouts since they can’t compete with highly educated seniors for the jobs they once could count on as theirs.

Tim Freund, Thousand Oaks

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