Show ECONOMIC highlights happenings that affect the he future of every individual national and a it d international problems leins inseparable F from r 0 in local welfare the problem of providing for the elderly part of our population has become a very difficult and sei serious ire one it will become much mo more serious as time wears on for due to the brogi progress ess of medical science and other reasons the percentage of those past mi is rising with great rapidity even now herbert hoover said in a recent address we h have a ve less than providers in this group persons aged 20 to ft 7 and they must pr provide ov ide for child children r en a god aged r sick ick nonproductive government workers and their wives it is solely from the energies of this middle group grou P their inventions and their productivity that can come the support of the young the old and the sick and the government workers how to deal with the case of the elderly has been commanding tile the intense n tense attention of industry and the labor unions the unions have concentrated on an effort to gain retirement pensions for their members of ax or more a month social c security payments included they have signed a number of highly favorable contracts notably with U S steel chrysler and general motors according to walter reuther they hope in 10 years to make 20 a month the standard pension however whether or not this occurs few believe that such pension plans are anything like a complete solution for one thing tile the majority of workers are not lot unionized and it is hardly likely that they would be willing to do without adequate pensions while a relatively small group reaped the harvest for another no one has yet figured out a way by which the thousands a rids of smaller businesses of the country could guarantee an acceptable pension plan for still another even when large companies are involved there are great complications and imponderables the state of business in the future how many employed emp loyes will die or resign or otherwise become ineligible before reaching retirement ago age how low long the average p pensioner n will live what the inavee investment st yield will be on funds set aside for pension purposes what rules to establish t to ii determine the benefits various classifications of workers are entitled to and so on nor can we yet be sure how much a pension plan will add to the cost of a companas comp anys product on tile the debit si side do it may increase the lab labor 0 r cost of each e ch employed by 10 cents ont s or more an hour on tile the credit sode however as the treasurer of eastman kodak has pointed out there are definite savings the organization is kept on a more efficient of basis A sense of security is brought to the older botker and there is a good effect on the younger worker as well there is a letter better feeling among the employed emp loyes and in the community labor turnover will be lower louer so much for the pros and cons basically the problem is to find a way to a assure the old a comfortable retirement without depressing the he economy forcing commodity prices to ever higher levels and making the burden of taxation in operable up erable |