The (older) kids are not alright 🗣️
What the data does & doesn't tell us about why older Americans are struggling (as well as younger ones), and what we can all do to save some starfish (young and old). (Audio; 28:47)
(credit to “The Who” for title reference to their 1966 song, The Kids Are Alright)
"Don't regret growing older. It's a privilege denied to many." - source unknown
“Old age isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative.” - Maurice Chevalier
I lost my dad at 17, and then lost a beloved spouse 18 years ago to lung cancer that was detected late. So I’ve never minded aging - getting older. I’m grateful to have the opportunity and years they didn’t. And I intend to make the most of however many years I may have left.
I do mind ageism - discrimination based on age - though. It’s inexcusable, harmful, makes getting older even harder, and needs to stop. To be specific, we collectively need to prioritize stopping it. Some suggestions for achieving this are at the end of this article.
Ageism in the USA and the World
The 2021 WHO “Global Report on Ageing” defines ageism as “the stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination directed towards people on the basis of their age”1. It is recognized by the UN as a global problem2, and the OECD and others have recognized ageism as a “social determinant of health”, along with poverty.34
As the UN report notes, “Ageism has serious and wide-ranging consequences for people’s health and well-being. Among older people, ageism is associated with poorer physical and mental health, increased social isolation and loneliness, greater financial insecurity, decreased quality of life and premature death. An estimated 6.3 million cases of depression globally are estimated to be attributable to ageism. It intersects and exacerbates other forms of bias and disadvantage including those related to sex, race and disability leading to a negative impact on people’s health and well-being.”
“We need to fight ageism head-on, as a deep-rooted human rights violation”. - Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Ageism seems to be less of an issue in countries which have a long-held cultural value of respecting elders (Japan is a frequently-cited example). However, in most countries, ageism is recognized as being both pervasive5 and harmful67, e.g. in the US:
“In this cross-sectional study of 2035 US adults ages 50 to 80 years, everyday ageism was prevalent (93.4%), experienced at differing levels by population sociodemographic characteristic, and associated with multiple indicators of poor physical and mental health.”
Ageism is “one of the last socially acceptable prejudices” in the US and some other countries (along with size discrimination).8
More than 50 years after the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) law was established in the US, “age discrimination remains a significant and costly problem for workers, their families, and our economy”9.
An AARP study cited by the EEOC affirmed that “6 out of 10 older workers have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace and 90 percent of those say it is common.” - and its study population started with age 45!10 However, even AARP itself isn’t immune to ageism; earlier today I saw a job post on LinkedIn from the AARP chapter in Minnesota seeking “young” candidates for an internship. After the post was quickly flagged by anti-ageists, it was removed.
Globally, the 60+ population is expected to double between 2017 and 205011, so this problem is only going to affect even more people in the future if we don’t start course-correcting now.
What I’m seeing
I’m a relatively privileged American in many regards, as are most of my friends & family. But most working-age older folks I know (55-70, roughly “The Who” generation) are not alright.
A key reason: They are stressed about ageism blocking them from working. As the studies mentioned earlier demonstrate, this concern is well founded. And in the US, working is an important source of affordable job-provided health insurance as well as income.
Many in this age group are also caught up in financially and emotionally supporting their aging retired parents, teenagers or their struggling working children, or both (the ‘sandwich generation’), all while trying to keep working full-time and save for their own retirements. According to MarketWatch, 71% of Baby Boomers are not on track with saving enough for their retirements, and 65% of Gen X members feel behind12.
Unfortunately, too many folks in the 55+ age group have already been forced into de facto unwanted early retirement. This leaves them scrambling for income and for health insurance they can afford for themselves and their families.
Although statistics vary13, without insurance (and sometimes even with it), and despite improvements in coverage from the Affordable Care Act14, many US families remain at financial risk from medical costs not covered by insurance15:
“For patients, medical debt has become a leading cause of personal bankruptcy, with an estimated $88 billion of that debt in collections nationwide, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”
From an income perspective, unemployment due to ageism puts many Americans in this 55+ age group in a real bind.
Unemployment benefits vary by state, not everyone is eligible, and it never lasts very long (typically 3-6 months at most).
Severance pay is not always available to everyone who is laid off, and it usually isn’t much of a cushion unless someone has been at the same company for 10-20+ years (not common nowadays). Typically it’s a few months’ pay. In corporate bankruptcies, it’s often not available at all.
Even though age discrimination has been illegal in the US for over 50 years, it’s hard to prove in court, and rarely seems worth a years-long battle to win.
The income people can draw from Social Security (if even eligible; the minimum age is 62) and retirement income often isn’t enough, especially in the face of having to pay for their own health insurance (easily over $1000/month for just one adult).
Making matters worse, the starting age for full Social Security benefits16 has been moving up from 65 to 66 and 67. This means that people who draw SS sooner will have lower incomes than projected.
Finding ways to survive without income from 55 to 62, never mind spanning the gap to full retirement age, is a steep challenge.
In our ageist US society, the assumption that people who want to work until 65, 66, or 67 (and can) are able to get hired (and hold off on drawing Social Security) is unfounded.
Many already-retired folks I know are stressed about living on fixed incomes in the face of escalating costs, particularly the high costs of elder care they do (or may soon) need. Forced early retirement makes this worse; the earlier one starts drawing pensions and SS, the less pensions and SS will pay every month17 for your entire remaining lifetime.
This is my own personal, probably un-representative view about the financial stresses of older people affected by ageism. Being a data person, I had to check: what does the data tell us?
What the data tells us
I quickly found preliminary data for 3 perspectives worth evaluating: wealth, poverty and food insecurity, and happiness.
Wealth (net worth)
A recent YouTube video reported that, as a group, US people over 55 now control 72% of America’s total wealth18. This was portrayed as a Bad Thing. A single number is far from a balanced picture in several regards, though.
More important than the current value is whether the total wealth percentage is trending higher or lower over time.
The sizes of the population groups change over time, and the number of 55+ people has been growing in the US. If per capita wealth stays roughly the same, more total people in a group would be expected to have more total wealth, and a higher percentage of total wealth.
Even if per capita values were used instead of totals, better data analysis (e.g. using medians or distributions instead of averages) would be more meaningful.
People are more than their age. Wealth equality needs to be intersectional.
People closer to retirement obviously need to have more savings and more assets to rely on for their retirement than younger folks, who still have more time to build their retirement ‘nest egg’.
My first step was to track down the Federal Reserve report19 the YouTube video was apparently based on (it had no citation). I downloaded the data and did some quick exploratory analysis on the “net worth” data as percentages of total wealth for each age group.
Here’s a quick graph of the overall percentages by age group from 1989-2023:
and a snapshot of the percentage data for each age group at a few points over the past 10 years:
What this data shows:
Under-40’s have a higher percentage of total US wealth now (6.5%) than 5 or even 10 years ago (4.7% and 5.5%).
The percentage had been declining steadily since the first measurement in 1989 (12%), to a trough in 2010 below 4%. Since then, it has been bumpy but mostly rising.
40-to-54’s and 55-to-69’s both have lower percentages (20.3% and 42.4%) than 5 or 10 years ago (23.7% and 25.2% for 40-54; 45.9% and 46.4% for 55-69).
70+ percentage of wealth has mostly increased slowly and steadily (18.9% in 1989, to 22.8% in 2013, 25.7% in 2018, 30.8% in 2023)
Again, these apparent changes need to be put into context. Some increases and decreases are likely due at least in part to the US having more or fewer people in each age group than we did 5 or 10 or 20+ years ago.
Also, some of the apparent recent growth may be in real estate value for primary residences. It’s well recognized that home prices have spiked in the US since COVID-19. However, one can’t live on the value of a home without:
mortgaging it (might be impossible, with no adequate income source for repaying the loan), or
selling it (and then, where do you live, and what does it cost?), or
taking out a reverse mortgage (not the panacea it’s promoted as2021).
The Federal Reserve data file does have data on real estate valuations and liabilities that would be interesting to analyze further, time and interest permitting.
If I can get the corresponding population values for each group by quarter or year, I may generate normalized values and share the data in a followup post. (Subscribe to be automatically notified of new posts 😊)
With this data in hand, and some additional references on wealth inequality, these are the questions and the answers I’ve found so far.
Q1. Is this percentage a meaningful change, compared to what it used to be?
A1: Probably not. As the table above shows, 10 years ago, the two 55+ groups controlled 69.2%. A 3% change to 72% over 10 years isn’t dramatic, especially considering that the size of the 55+ group has grown, and this might actually represent a decrease per capita. Better data and analysis is needed.
Q2. How is wealth distributed for demographic aspects other than age?
A2: Very unevenly. The averages in the “State of US Wealth Inequality” report22 show great disparities - between the bottom 50% and the top 10%, and between demographic groups. The report also notes that the “racial and ethnic wealth gaps have changed very little over the past few decades” :
“The top 10% of households by wealth had $6.5 million on average. As a group, they held 66.6% of total household wealth.”
“The bottom 50% of households by wealth had $50,000 on average. As a group, they held only 2.6% of total household wealth.”
“Black families owned about 24 cents for every $1 of white family wealth, on average.”
“Hispanic families owned about 19 cents for every $1 of white family wealth, on average.”
The “State of US Wealth Inequality” report oddly doesn’t include any analysis of wealth gaps by gender. However, another Fed report from 2021 on “Gender Wealth Gaps in the U.S. and Benefits of Closing Them”23 notes that:
“The gender wealth gap is considerably larger than the gender wage gap. Families headed by women have just 55 cents in median wealth for every dollar of wealth owned by families headed by men”
“Gender wealth gaps are even starker and vary more when viewed by race/ethnicity and marital status.”24
These wealth disparities are troubling, representing even more dramatic wealth gaps than the small age group differentials, and warrant further (intersectional) attention. This Fed site25 provides further insights into how much can be gained by US society if - when? - these gaps can be closed.
Poverty and Food Insecurity
Despite a concerted federal effort to reduce poverty and homelessness by 25% by 2025, official data show worrisome trends, particularly for older Americans.
Anti-ageism activist Sheila Callaham summarized it well in her March 27, 2024 post on LinkedIn26 about this Feb. 2023 New York Times article on homelessness, "582,462 and Counting"27 (bold emphasis added):
“The US Census Bureau reports that poverty is increasing most rapidly for 65 and older. That's what happens when they lose jobs in the 50s and no one will rehire them. They can't pay the mortgage and rack up outrageous credit card bills trying to put food on the table. The stress of financial ruin makes them sick.”
Other data show that food insecurity for US elderly is unacceptably high (8%, or 5 million people) and growing28. And it’s not just 65+ or 60+ folks who are hurting (which is bad enough). This April 2023 report from Feeding America29 reports that as of 2021:
1 in 14 seniors age 60 and older (7.1% or 5.5 million) were food insecure
1 in 11 adults age 50 to 59 (9.4% or 3.8 million), were food insecure
Food insecurity among both seniors and older adults remains higher than prior to the Great Recession
Know 14 US people over 60, or 11 US people 50-59? At least one of them is probably coping with hunger, whether you’re aware of it or not.
We Americans should be ashamed that this is the case in the “wealthiest country on Earth” - and we should be doing something about it.
World Happiness Report and Survey
This article from The Noösphere by Katie JGLN pointed me to the World Happiness Report30. Her piece is a sobering look at the stresses young folks are facing and the unhappiness they are living with. 😢
The report ranks US people over 60 as much happier than young US folks, and 10th happiest in the world. That reported high level of happiness is hard to believe in light of the other data we’ve already seen, though.
I have to wonder if selection bias is a factor in the study. Elders who participated might be more likely to be well off in many regards than the overall older US population. Gallup’s methodology page31 claims 95% accuracy and says they focus on the “civilian, non-institutionalized population”.
Did the ~1000 US people in the Gallup World Poll include people in public or private assisted living homes? (depending on what Gallup means by ‘institutionalized’, possibly not)
Did their sample overlook poorer older people who may live with relatives or not have their own home phones, or who don’t answer unknown calls to their phones?
I have friends and family who fit those situations. The high rating from the Gallup survey simply doesn’t fit with the over-60 Americans I know, or with the poverty, wealth, or inequality statistics above.
Other surveys on happiness, e.g. a report from the Economist32, partially contradict these findings. Happiness, it seems, is hard to evaluate objectively in the face of possible confounding factors, e.g. survivorship bias: being wealthier in money and social connections, which partly correlates to happiness, may help people live to older ages.
Ageism at both ends of the spectrum
Bottom line: “The Who generation” kids are not alright.
This isn’t at all to say that it’s ok for young folks to be unhappy or stressed. It’s NOT ok for our youngers OR elders to live unhappily - or die from suicide or other causes due to these factors.
Ageism can hurt people early in their careers as well - even teens (sometimes called “reverse ageism”). I know many new excellent new graduates without experience who have struggled mightily to land their first jobs. The heightened stress and unhappiness for young folks in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, and a few other countries in the West, noted in the report and Katie’s article, seems to be a new-ish / worsening problem, and that definitely deserves attention.
But for elders in the US, ageism is a 50+ year problem, and it shows no signs of getting better on its own. The overall system in the US, at least, isn’t supporting either age group well.
Sexism and gendered ageism
The Happiness Report in (30) says that we in the US are aligned with the rest of the world on gender differentials in happiness. Women worldwide (and in the US) are reportedly less happy than men, particularly as they get older:
“In 2021-2023 negative emotions were in every region more prevalent for females than males, with almost everywhere the gender gap being larger at higher ages.”
It’s worth noting that these findings are contradicted somewhat by the Economist’s report in (32), which identifies “four main factors, it seems: gender, personality, external circumstances and age. Women, by and large, are slightly happier than men. But they are also more susceptible to depression”.
However, logically, it would not really be surprising if women are less happy worldwide at all ages, given:
Bias: the misogynism (and for some, misogynoir) that we deal with daily, in the US and worldwide, and
Poverty: older women are even more likely than older men to be poor.
Among other harms, “gendered ageism”33 (which starts as early as 40 for women, according to SHRM34!) makes it even harder for older women than for older men to get hired.
Further, as noted in the report on homelessness35, along with old and poor people, Black and LGBTQIA+ people are disproportionately represented in unhoused populations. Intersectionality matters in how we address these ills.
What can one person do?
Like in software engineering and many things in life, there are no silver bullets and no quick good answers. However, there are things we can and should do.
1. VOTE. Before our elections this November, we can ask hard questions of candidates about their views on livability and our economy and taking care of our citizens of all ages (and genders, and races, and other characteristics). And vote accordingly. And then hold them accountable.
Note: This post isn’t a criticism of the current executives in our government. These ageism and wealth inequity problems are systemic and chronic, not acute. And my answer to the currently-circulating question about whether I’m better off overall than I was 4 years ago is an emphatic yes. That isn’t saying much, though, since 4 years ago we were up to our eyeballs in a mishandled pandemic mess. And through today, a lot’s been going on (or not going on, when it should be) elsewhere in our government that is moving us in the wrong direction. Not going down that rabbit hole 😊. It shouldn’t distract us from doing what we can to ensure our next crop of elected representatives actually care about fixing this, and make it a priority once they’re elected.
2. INDIVIDUAL ACTION. Those of us who are in a position to improve things for folks of diverse age groups, genders, etc. should be encouraged and supported to personally do so. These opportunities may include:
unbiased interviewing and hiring (age, gender, race, etc.). Not only is it the right thing to do, you’ll be doing your team a favor: age-diverse teams and workforces are demonstrated to improve employee engagement, performance, and productivity!
empowering ‘sandwich generation’ people of all genders who are caring for others, with the flexibility and support they need
interrupting bias (ageist, sexist, racist, … ) in words and actions when we encounter them
As individuals, maybe each of us can only save a few dozen or a few hundred stranded ‘starfish’36, when there are millions. That’s no excuse for not trying to save any. Let’s be starfish throwers! 😊
In parallel with taking actions to help others, one of the best individual actions each of us can take is simply to question our own negative beliefs about aging, which we all grew up with, and not allow them to become self-fulfilling prophecies.
A recent book by Becca Levy, PhD37, a professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health and of psychology at Yale University, examines more than a dozen beliefs about getting older. For each belief, she “found information that not only contradicted the negative stereotype but also highlighted a strength that comes with aging”. She also found that “Age beliefs, it turns out, can steal or add nearly eight years to your life.”38 Let’s not let our own ageist mindsets steal years from us!
3. COLLECTIVE ACTION. Organizations that are pushing back on the -isms and pushing for improvements in our social safety network deserve our support. Here are some people I’ve discovered recently who are making a difference against ageism:
Stella Fosse - see her publication and companion blog site
Ashton Applewhite - site (This Chair Rocks), blog (Yo, Is This Ageist?), Ted talk “Let’s End Ageism” (nearly 2M views so far)
A notable recent success of these advocates39 was convincing LinkedIn to retract their awful ageist advertisements40 which were launched in November and shown during the Super Bowl and beyond, despite months of protests.
However, the better win will be to interrupt this bias before ads like this ever get made, and ensuring they aren’t shown, vs. being on the air for months before being pulled.
Do you know of other organizations or people who are doing good work in this area? Or can you suggest other constructive actions?
Aging like fine wine
Although getting older can bring financial, social, and physical disruptions, it can be transformative in good ways, too.
While researching her book, Dr. Levy found evidence against the stereotype of people become less creative as they age, noting examples of artists and musicians who became more creative and more productive in their later years.41
Pessimistic ageist expectations of what it’s like to get older often don’t hold up. As one example, Pete Townshend of The Who, who famously wrote the lyric “Hope I die before I get old” when he was 20, seems to have changed his mind about getting old. He was writing a humorous blog in his 60’s42 and at 78+, says he is “still learning and I’m still having fun with guitars”43.
“Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.” – David Bowie
Some writers44 and some of my friends have shared that aging and moving beyond corporate life (even if involuntarily) has opened them to opportunities to invest their energy in causes and activities that truly matter to them. As a result, despite financial pressures, they’re finding more satisfaction in life now than they did during their earlier working years (perhaps more so than they expected when younger).
Many older people don’t have the financial resources and privilege to do this, though. Ageism and wealth disparities still need to be addressed, intersectionally, to open up the potential for higher life satisfaction to others.
No time like the present
Regardless of one’s current age, it’s worthwhile to get involved now in reducing ageism and its impacts. As the OECD report (3) aptly points out,
“Sometimes we forget the obvious—one day we will all be older.”
Like planting trees, and so many other situations, the best time for tackling this may have been 20 years ago (or more) - but the second best time is still NOW.
Tackling challenges, especially as part of a community, can actually enhance our later years. Studies indicate that proactiveness, practicing positive thinking, and building resilience can enhance life satisfaction for older folks45. Starting such a practice when young is still better than later, but the second best time for this, too, is NOW.
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
– C.S. Lewis“Don't get older just to get wiser. If you get older, you will be wiser, I believe that - if you dare. But get older because it's fun!” - Maya Angelou
Let’s fight ageism together, starting with our own mindsets, and help each other with new goals & new dreams!
For some humorous inspiration, check out this YouTube video of a TEDx Talk presentation by Mariann Aalda titled “Ageism is a Bully … Stand Up To It!” (thank you to Stella Fosse for sharing it earlier today)
Acknowledgements:
Huge thanks to Kevin Ferguson and Catherine Louis for their insightful and helpful guidance on improving this article!
References:
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/03/cover-new-concept-of-aging (“Ageism is one of the last socially acceptable prejudices. Psychologists are working to change that.“)
Such an informative piece! Thank you, Karen, for consolidating all this important knowledge.
Excellent, well-researched article Karen!