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Show LABOR FORCE Ratio of Workers to Persons 65 Or Older Continues to Decline Today there are only five adult workers in the United States for every person 65 years old or over; in 1850 there were 11 workers, 16 years old or over, for every oldster. In 1900 the proportion was nine workers to one oldster; in 1920 it was eight to one; in 1930, seven to one; in 1940, six to one; by 1950, five to one. In another ten years, under current population trends, there will be approximately four people at work for every person 65 or over. These figures vividly point up our fast-mounting problems with respect to our aging population, reports the family economics bureau bu-reau of Northwestern National Life Insurance company. As medical science and improving conditions enable more people to live past 65, we are at the same time retiring more oldsters from useful work, says the report. Simply voting the old people more dollars is no solution, either for them or the nation, the report observes, ob-serves, adding that old people do not consume dollars they consume goods, uke everyone else. Somebody Some-body has to produce the extra food, clothes, shelter and other things needed for their comfort. Therefore any practical program of security for our aged must face two basic requirements, says the report: (1) Production of goods and services serv-ices by our young and middle-aged people must be expanded much further, through industrial progress, so there will be a greater margin left over from the workers' own needs, to take care of helpless older members of our population. (2) At the same time our increasing increas-ing millions of older people must be permitted and helped to keep on at productive work as long after 65 as possible, instead of being discouraged dis-couraged and penalized for so doing. do-ing. Unless these basic realities are kept in mind, the problem will grow worse instead of better, says the report; passing out more and more government dollars looks like an easy solution, but only means that each dollar will buy less and less. MOST AMERICANS want to stay useful after 65, says the report, pointing to a recent survey of the retirement aims of 3,000 of the company's com-pany's male policy-holders. Results, as previously published, showed that only 24 per cent want complete leisure when they reach retirement age. The remaining 76 per cent want either to keep on at their present pres-ent jobs as long as they are physically phys-ically and mentally capable, or else to be financially able to ease up a bit, with shorter hours or in some lighter occupation. Thus, three out of four of the men in the survey want to kepn ripht on rfr.ir. something useful after 65. Such responses further emphasize empha-size the need for all retirement programs, pro-grams, whether based on life insurance, in-surance, industrial pensions or government gov-ernment payments, to be made highly flexible in their provisions for actual retirement from work, the report concludes. Year U.S. Labor U.S. Popn- Ratio Force latloa to 10 years old 65 years old Labor and over and over Force 1850 7.035,000 623.000 9 1900 27,323,000 3,080,000 ll'A 1S20 40.553,000 4.933,000 12 1930 48,153,000 6.634,000 14 1940 52,540,000 9,019,000 17 I960 61.474.000 12,322,000 20 1960 67,302,000 15,491,000 23 |