But growing numbers of workers retire from their primary career jobs and then take on other jobs, either for pay or as unpaid community service. Rather, older workers in their 50s and 60s are customizing their own retirements or are being encouraged to do so with retirement incentive packages. Figure 4 More workers have a long work week. U.S. Department of Labor, Report on the American Workforce, 1999. For example, historically we have operated on the premise that wives and mothers should do the domestic labor of society in order to free husbands and fathers to work in the paid economy.
Structural lag is evident in both public and private employment policies.
Moreover, growing numbers of workers are now exempt from mandated special overtime compensation provisions provided by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Professionals in particular are encouraged to work long hours for a fixed salary in order to move ahead or even to keep their jobs. At the other end of the age spectrum, throughout much of the last half of the 20th century pension policies have encouraged early retirement. In fact, economists suggest that the growth in pension coverage accounts for most of the declining employment of older workers. But many workers report wanting to work less or to have different jobs, not to exit the work force entirely.