Hi all. I hope you’re all good, ladies. And I hope you’re all good, fellas. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be retired. Everything about it seems like it would suit me. I’m not someone who gets bored easily, and having time on my hands is something I really enjoy (not that it happens often at present). However, in order to enjoy retirement, you need a decent pension. Pensions are my subject today. Enjoy.
As anyone who has read my blog before will likely know, I’m very liberal and left-leaning in the vast majority of my views. I’ve written about equal pay for women, homophobia, transphobia, and racism. And, though I haven’t written about it, I also voted Remain in the Brexit referendum, and I’m happy for asylum seekers to come to my country; I mean, I do want to stop the dinghies arriving, but only because I believe there should be safe routes for refugees to use.
So, yeah, safe to say I’m left-wing. One viewpoint I have that seems to be more aligned with right-wing sensibilities is when it comes to the official retirement age.
Now, when I was in school, the retirement age in the UK was 65 for men and 60 for women. Considering women, on average, live longer than men, I’m not entirely sure why men were expected to work longer. This looks like it has been changed now so that the retirement age is the same for men and women.
Anyway, these official retirement ages seemed to be in place for a very long time. And, a quick Google search reveals that I’m right; the state pension age remained the same between 1948 and 2010. However, these ages have been creeping up over the last 13 years or so, with further increases expected in the not too distant future.
Perhaps partly – or wholly – because the Conservative Party has overseen all of these age increases (the Tories have been in power since 2010), these changes are often viewed as right-wing. Because of this, a lot of people on the left tend to be opposed to these changes.
And look, as I mentioned in my intro, I’m really looking forward to retirement. So, on a personal level, the younger the state pension age, the better. Then why do I not oppose raising the state pension age?
For starters, I think it’s safe to say that life has changed a bit since 1948. It makes sense that we don’t necessarily stick with all rules and laws that were in place just after World War Two. Our life expectancy has changed dramatically since then.
In 1950, the life expectancy in the UK was under 69 years old. Ok, perhaps a knock on affect from the war may have impacted that number, so let’s look a bit later. In 1980, halfway between 1950 and the first state pension increase in 2010, life expectancy was just over 73. Today, life expectancy is nearly 82 years old.
It’s clear that, on average, people are living longer. Therefore, it makes sense that people should work a bit longer, too. As well as having to provide state pensions for longer, which costs the country money, there is an imbalance to the number of workers to non-workers.
To dive into this properly, we need to look at the population more closely. In 1980, there were 56.3 million people in the UK. Of those, 34.7 million were of working age (15-64). So, roughly 66% of the population was of working age.
However, today, the overall population is 67.8 million, with 37.5 million of working age. That’s just under 63%. Now, a 3% drop in our working-age population over the last 40 years or so might not seem significant. But when you factor in that the population of the country is only going to grow and life expectancy is only going to increase, the number of working age people will obviously decrease.
In short, we will become an ageing nation. Perhaps we already are. One surefire way to combat this is by raising the state pension age. I’m not saying that is the only solution. I’m sure people much smarter than me can think of different methods.
Off the top of my head, I would say incentives for working-age immigrants could be a way to tip the numbers back in a more favourable direction.
I don’t want to get too much into the weeds on the immigration topic; I could probably dedicate a whole blog to that subject. However, whether you are pro-immigration or anti-immigration, would this really be a viable option?
In Brexit Britain, I doubt immigrants coming over to boost our workforce would be welcomed with open arms. Would they even want to come, knowing the backlash they’d likely receive? Either way, I really can’t see this government changing their stance on immigration, so it’s probably a non-starter.
Another way to boost the workforce, though it will take some time to show any dividends, is by increasing the number of births. In 2012, there were just shy of 730,000 births. In 2022, that number was a little over 605,000. You might think that the 2022 number is an anomaly or that it was a knock-on effect from Covid. But the numbers had been trending downwards since the relative-high in 2012.
I’m sure there are many factors when it comes to the decrease in childbirth. House prices have been on the rise for the past 10 years. With people moving out of their parent’s houses later and later, this surely leads to people starting families later.
Couple that with the cost of living crisis we’re currently living through, and it’s little wonder less people are having babies. Babies are very expensive. It’s not just the big, one-off expenses like a cot or pram you need to worry about, either. It’s the weekly supply of nappies and formula, etc. that really gets you. Weekly shops are expensive enough as it is at the moment.
So, it’s not just one thing that has made us an ageing nation. There’s the lack of immigration. There’s the housing crisis. There’s the cost of living crisis. Basically, whatever way you slice it, it’s all the government’s fault. See? Told you I was left-wing.
Thanks, as ever, for reading. I appreciate that this might have been a bit of a boring one; figures, stats, and finances aren’t for everyone. But, join me next time where I’ll be discussing… managing finances on nights out… dang it! Bye.
Rob Recommends
Henpocalypse – TV – 7/10
This show is just bonkers, really. Very silly, very rude, and rather entertaining on the whole. Following a group of ladies on a hen weekend, the trip takes a turn for the worst when the apocalypse arrives.
I thought this was going to be a zombie thing, but it’s more a loose allegory of the Covid pandemic. Lack of zombies aside, it’s sort of like a cross between Shaun of the Dead and Bridesmaids.
This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I liked it. There are some real laugh-out-loud moments. You’ll probably know early doors whether you’ll enjoy the show or not. I reckon it’s worth a go, though. Perhaps not a glowing endorsement, but they can’t all be 10/10!
A Rob Blog 