Can’t grow old anymore

Another factor is society is not ready to let the "old timers" retire. From personal experience, most professional jobs in this day and age expect you to have three to five years experience in the field, prior to them even looking at your resume. The recent university graduate, with three to five years of education on the subject, however, does not make the cut generally, because their recent work history shows customer service jobs, low level data entry, or any number of other forms of employment which do not meet the requirements set by the hiring board. They have the basic knowledge, bu not the hands on experience. They are also young, energetic, and ambitious. This, for many, comes accross as threatening and undesirable, so these "bright young minds" are overlooked, putting more strain and expectation on those who are looking at retiring. As a result, the number of professionals who are reaching "retirement age" is far larger than the number of people coming in to fill those positions. The "brain-drain" effect, of having all the experienced staf retiring has a crippling effect on a company, which in turn, cripples the economy. If everyone over the age of sixty-five were to retire, and no one who has not already been working in the business line for less than five years can get hired, think of the effect that would have, on both the private and public sector. The claim is that this is a stand against age-discrimination; in fact, it is self preservation as a result of it. Youth and ambition are frightening to those who are comfortable with the status quo, so why not make demands on those with the age and experience. They likely are willing to stay on longer, for the reasons mentioned by Thirty-aught-six, and because those pensions they have been paying into for years are often not enough to live on.