Senior citizens shun retirement to stay active

Apr. 3--If it looks easy, it's because Sam is a pro. He's been doing this job for 18 years. And at 83, he has no intention of retiring.

"I don't think anyone is as happy as me," said Atkins, slowing his pace just long enough to grant a reporter a brief interview. "I've been blessed with good health, a happy marriage, two boys and four wonderful granddaughters. I'll work as long as I'm able."

Atkins is one of 10,689 Mississippians over the age of 70 who continue to work past the age of retirement. Nationwide, some 1 million seniors 75 and older stay in the work force. It's a growing trend that will likely accelerate once the first of the baby boomer generation hits retirement age in 2011, experts say.

Several factors emerged to swing the pendulum that -- between 1963 and 1993 -- actually saw the retirement age decreasing, not increasing. But of those factors, which include an uncertain future in Social Security, insufficient savings and a desire to stay active, the biggest one is Americans' longer life expectancy, said Walter Howell, AARP executive state director for advocacy and communications.

Modern medicine and healthy lifestyles have bumped life spans by 16.5 years since 1940. Where once most men died at 61 and women at 66, people today enjoy one or two more decades of life.

And they need to fill them with an activity, said Tupelo psychologist Dr. Joe Edd Morris, who noted that the more people use their minds, the longer they will function properly and stave off ailments like Alzheimer's disease.

"We've invented retirement," Morris said. "Back in the old days, there was no such thing. Ulysses was in his 80s probably, and he was pushing off to find new worlds."

In a recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll, 63 percent of those not yet retired said they will work for pay after they eventually do. Of those, 31 percent said they would work to stay busy and 15 percent said it was to make ends meet. Others will work to pay for extras, try a new career or for some other reason.

For Atkins, the choice was simple: He'd get bored if he stayed home. That's why when his previous employer of 41 years, TKE Drug Store, closed, Atkins -- then 65 -- chose not to retire, but to find another job.

That's also the case of George Walsh, 71, who started his own fix-it business when he retired from the Tupelo Public Works Department in 2001. With his new venture, Walsh keeps busy, sets his own hours and earns extra money to buy new tools or go on trips.

"Being over 65, I've got Medicare and my retirement from the city retirement program, but this business gives me more spending money," said Walsh, who cut back hours recently to undergo skin cancer treatments. "I guess my health will determine how long I can continue."

Health is no problem for 77-year-old Viola Snipes. She hasn't missed but four days of work -- two days for each cataract surgery she had -- since she started as a visitor information clerk in 1988 at North Mississippi Medical Center.

A great-grandmother, Snipes took the job 31 years ago after the last of her three children graduated college. She said she could probably earn more money by retiring but enjoys the job too much to do it.

"I'm still working because I look forward to it," said Snipes, who was married 35 years to the late B.C. Snipes. "If I retired, I would be home by myself and I'm afraid I'd get depressed."

The kind of dedication that Snipes displays is one reason employers nationwide are turning toward older workers to fill key positions. With age, senior citizens often become more reliable, more mature and more stable than their younger counterparts, said Lisa Tagliapietra, spokeswoman for Manpower, which recently teamed with AARP to launch a program aimed at workers age 50 and over.

"In our business, we're definitely seeing a shift in that our customers in many cases like having mature workers," Tagliapietra said. "They're very reliable, they have a very strong work ethic, and they really want to be there."

J.C. Penney's jewelry manager Meg Dickey already knows this. That's why she purposely seeks senior citizens to fill openings whenever they arise. She's not alone. Managers throughout the department store at The Mall at Barnes Crossing have staffed their floors with former retirees.

They've done the same thing at places like Home Depot, which also partnered recently with AARP to hire older workers, and Wal-Mart, where senior citizens routinely staff the front doors as greeters.

One is 66-year-old Betty Barnett, a Wal-Mart greeter since 1987. Barnett said her current Social Security benefits wouldn't afford her a comfortable retirement, so she took a job at the Wal-Mart on West Main Street where she's building a nest egg with a 401(k) and a profit-sharing plan.

Barnett is like numerous other seniors who, in a 2003 AARP poll, cited financial need as the No. 1 reason to continue working past retirement age.

"Companies have gone from pension plans to 401(k)s, and that's been tumultuous for retirement plans," Howell said. "They're finding their retirement benefits are not what they used to be."

By 2007, Barnett will have amassed 20 years with the company and said she could retire -- sort of. Barnett also has been a private personal accountant since 1972 and makes extra money doing that work on the side.

Even after Wal-Mart she'll continue her freelance practice, she said. But Wal-Mart could be with her for awhile.

"I love being here," said Barnett, whose husband is retired. "I like to be out and meet new people. I don't like sitting down."

Barnett, Atkins and Snipes all found work with companies in their later years. But for some it's not that easy. Some companies are still "careful" about hiring older workers due to a perception that they're not as sharp, the AARP's Howell said.

But, according to Morris, who does psychological testing for employers, that's a myth.

"A lot of people think that intelligence declines with old age, and that's erroneous," Morris said. "There are different types of intelligence: Verbal -- which deals with general knowledge and remembering old information -- does not diminish over time. What does diminish is reaction time."

Morris recalled his mother, then in her 80s, winning a Jeopardy board game against a room full of people with doctorate and masters degrees. Her memory was sharp, he said, even though her timing was a bit slow.

"If you've got somebody 70 years old who wants to work, you don't put them on a production line that requires quick reaction time," Morris said. "But you can put them in the shipping department or at the end of the line doing the light work. A lot of these people are wise."

That's why Mississippi joined the AARP this year in launching a statewide mature worker pilot program to help older workers seek and retain jobs.

Gov. Haley Barbour called the initiative -- which includes highlighting companies that have a program to recruit, hire and retain mature workers -- a "win-win" situation for both the state and the workers.

But much remains to be done to assure the rights of mature workers, who, since mandatory retirement was abolished nationwide in 1986, don't have to leave their jobs if they don't want to. In some cases, companies try to force the elderly out of their posts by more insidious means.

Nationwide, the AARP handles litigation for some 50-60 lawsuits involving age discrimination, including one case where a group of aged Jackson police officers claimed the city's performance plan discriminated against them.

In a decision handed down last week, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed their suit but used the case to set new guidelines for proving discrimination.

"People are healthier as they reach 65, and they still have a desire to work," said Howell, who is 68. "I think the whole mindset has changed."

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