取代退休儲蓄的一種方法是延遲退休

“The alternative to saving for retirement is to delay retirement, possibly indefinitely.” This was the grim message from a report on pension provision published last week.

“取代退休儲蓄的一種方法是延遲退休，有可能是無限期延遲。”這是最近發表的一份有關養老金保障的報告所傳達的悲觀信息。

The report, commissioned by the UK Labour party, said that many people were saving too little for their retirement and faced working until they dropped.

由英國工黨(Labour party)委託研究的這份報告稱，很多人的退休儲蓄太少，他們將一直工作到做不動爲止。

The British government has also set up a review into the state pension age. No one expects it to be lowered.

英國政府還啓動了對國家養老金領取年齡的評估。沒有人預計這個年齡會下調。

The defined benefit pension that provided a bearable retirement for earlier generations faces extinction. The current crop of workers will have to work years longer to avoid retiring into poverty.

爲之前幾代人提供了可承受的養老計劃的固定收益養老計劃(defined benefit pension)正面臨絕種。如今的勞動者不得不工作更長時間，才能避免退休時一貧如洗。

This means the traditional career trajectory — starting in one’s Late teens or early twenties (depending on education), rising up the hierarchy to a peak in one’s late forties or early fifties, departing 10 years later — will no longer apply. But how will it change? Here are five possible scenarios.

這意味着，傳統的職業軌跡（快20歲或20歲出頭（這取決於教育程度）開始工作，在快50歲或50歲出頭升至職業頂峯，10年後退休）將不再適用。但情況會發生何種變化？這裏列出了5種可能的情形。

3 Employers decide it is the workers’ problem, not theirs. They understand that pensions are not as good as they were but older workers are expensive and having them around blocks younger colleagues’ promotions. Far better to push the older employees to retire and consign them to penury.

1.僱主認爲，這是員工的問題，不是它們的問題。它們知道，養老金不如以前那麼豐厚了，但年紀較大的員工成本高昂，他們的存在會阻礙較年輕員工的升職。最好是鼓勵年紀較大的員工退休，讓他們依靠養老金度日。

Many employers will find this option attractive but age discrimination laws will make it hard to implement. And as the population ages, there will be fewer young employees to take retiring workers’ places.

很多僱主認爲這種辦法不錯，但年齡歧視法將令這種做法很難施行。同時，隨着人口老齡化，取代退休員工位置的年輕員工將減少。

3 Both employers and employees accept that people will work longerand everything in their careers will happen later. They will rise through the hierarchy more slowly than they do today, winning that peak promotion in their late fifties.

2.僱主和僱員都認爲，人們將工作更長時間，職場中的一切都將延遲。他們升職的速度將比現在更慢，要等到快60歲時才能達到事業的巔峯。

A version of this is likely to happen. Unable to afford retirement, employees will resist attempts to force them out. The workforce will, on average, become older. Carrying on for longer is easier for workers in sedentary occupations than for those in jobs requiring physical labour. But even those in sedentary jobs eventually start to slow down. Younger workers will become fed up being managed by those they regard as over the hill.

這種情況很可能會出現。負擔不起退休生活的員工將抵制迫使他們退休的努力。勞動者的平均年齡將上升。與那些體力勞動者相比，坐辦公室的勞動者更容易工作更久。但即便是那些坐辦公室的人也最終會開始放慢速度。較年輕的員工會受不了被那些他們認爲上了年紀的人管。

3 Later retirement introduces a golden age for women workers. In the UK, the pay gap between men and women under 30 has almost disappeared. It widens as women have children and men go on to dominate executive jobs and boardrooms.

3.延遲退休將給女性勞動者帶來一個黃金時代。在英國，30歲以下男女薪資差距已幾乎消失。但隨着女性生孩子、男性繼續統治高管職位和董事會職務，這種薪資差距在更高的年齡段會擴大。

If people carry on working until they are older, mothers should have more opportunity to return to full-time work as their children grow up and need them less. They should have a couple of decades to win those top jobs that they are being denied today.

如果人們延遲退休，隨着孩子長大，對她們的需要減少，母親們應會有更多機會恢復全職工作。她們應該會有20年時間爭取到她們現在被拒之門外的那些高級職位。

The problem is that when I have written about this optimistic scenario before, a few women have told me that they have tried it and it did not work. Coming back to full-time work from part-time or a career break is tough. It is hard to get back on the escalator.

問題是，當我以前寫到這種樂觀的假設時，一些女性告訴我，她們試過了，沒有成功。從兼職或離職的狀態重新回到全職工作是艱難的。她們很難重新踏上職場階梯。

This may be true but determined employers can find ways around this — for example by providing mentors to help women get back on to the promotion track.

這或許是正確的，但有決心的僱主可以找到解決這個問題的方法，例如提供導師，幫助女性重返升職軌道。

3 Companies go for the Carlos Slim option. In 2014, the Mexican telecoms magnate, said that, instead of retiring, older workers should cut back to three days a week.

4.企業採用卡洛斯•斯利姆(Carlos Slim)的選擇。2014年，這位墨西哥電信大亨表示，年紀較大的員工不應退休，而是應該將每週工作日減少到3天。

Everyone gains. The company holds on to older workers’ skills while cutting the cost of employing them. The workers have more leisure.

所有人都會受益。企業保住了較老員工的技能，同時削減了聘用他們的成本。員工的空閒時間也增多了。

This scenario appears to have more to recommend it than any other, although it does depend on older workers being able to afford the reduction in working hours.

這種設想似乎比其他任何選擇都更值得推薦，不過這取決於較老員工能否負擔得起工作時間縮短。

Older people working shorter weeks could step back from senior positions. They could also do different jobs for the company.

工作時間縮短的較老員工可能會退出高級職位。他們還可能會爲公司做其他工作。

The Financial Times reported this week on a former manager at Nissan in Sunderland, in the north-east of England who, at 67, conducts tours of the plant. He does not work for Nissan. He has retired and works for an outside agency that runs the tours. This leads to the final scenario.

英國《金融時報》最近報道了一位前日產(Nissan)駐英格蘭東北部城市桑德蘭的經理的故事，67歲的他負責安排這家日產工廠的參觀。他不是日產員工。他已退休，爲一家提供參觀服務的外部機構工作。這把我們引向了最後一種設想。

3 Older workers make their own way in the world. This follows the first option, in which companies refuse to adjust to the new world and insist on older workers retiring anyway. Instead of fighting it, people become self-employed, offering their services to whoever will pay for them. Many Financial Times readers have told me they do this now and love it.

5.較老員工在這個世界上走出自己的路。這是第一種設想的結果，在第一種設想裏，企業拒絕對新的世界做出調整，不管怎樣都堅持讓較老員工退休。與其爲此抗爭，人們不如自己創業，把自己的服務提供給任何願意爲此付錢的人。英國《金融時報》的很多讀者告訴我，他們現在正這麼做，而且樂在其中。