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As the Government urges older Australians to work longer in a bid to defuse the fiscal 'time bomb', some are embracing the opportunity to stay on the job.
Key points:
- Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said older Australians should upskill to ease the burden of an ageing population on the economy
- Some have criticised this plan, saying it's idealistic and ignores the role ageism plays in gaining employment
- Some older Australians who continue to work into their late 60s, 70s and 80s say they do it for routine and the social life
Last month, Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg signalled a push to upskill and retrain over-60s in a bid to deal with the "demographic timebomb" he said would place extreme demands on our health, aged care, and pensions systems.
Some people saw this as unrealistic, citing ageism as a blocker to employment.
But those still at work said employment was not only providing them with money, but also a routine and a social life.
Joe Antico, fruit and vegetable wholesaler, 80
No matter your age, starting work at 2:00am is a challenge, but for Joe Antico who works at Sydney's Flemington Markets, early mornings are the norm.
"You do get tired at night," Mr Antico said.
"But you can't play golf or fish every day."
Together with his brothers, Mr Antico owns a fruit and vegetable wholesale business that supplies everything from stone fruit, apples, beans and kiwi fruit to Sydney's retail and cruise ship market.
For the past 60 years, he has watched our eating habits change across food types and even the way we consume.
"Many people are eating out rather than cooking at home and the cultures have changed," he said.
"I have a stir fry for lunch, if that tells you anything."
Initially, Mr Antico said the markets were filled with fellow Italian migrants.
Nowadays, he said there were people from everywhere.
"There's Asians, people from the Middle East — it's a fabulous place to be."
At 80 years old, retirement isn't even remotely on the cards.
"I don't do a lot of physical work these days but I'm here liaising with customers and growers and I find that it keeps the dementia away," he said.
Responding to the Treasurer's call for workers to work longer, he said it wasn't quite as easy as just adding fresh skills.
"As they age, some people are capable of working, other people aren't through health and have just got to retire … it's someone's own prerogative," Mr Antico said.
Lindy Morrison, drummer, 68
After racing around to finalise her lipstick and silence the loudly ticking clock, 68-year-old Lindy is anything but slowing down.
The musician, most well known as the drummer of '80s indie rock band The Go-Betweens, now has three jobs.
"I just don't feel like I'm ready to stop work," Ms Morrison said.
After the band's break-up in 1989, Morrison continued to work as a professional drummer, alongside running a community music program for Waverley Council and working as a social worker for Support Act, a charity that supports artists, crew and music workers experiencing hard times.
"The social work job is crisis work so the hours can be sporadic, but the Waverley Council job is for two hours each weekday afternoon and I spend six hours a week practicing drumming."
"Last year, I was on tour with Alex the Astronaut and that was exhausting but I'm quite good at disciplining myself," she said.
"I never drink at home alone, I go to bed early, trying to keep in shape but that doesn't mean I don't fall from time to time."
While Morrison said she felt lucky to be healthy enough to continue working, money was a big incentive.
"I have an economic prerogative to work as well because as an artist I didn't earn a lot of money … and I was incredibly late getting super, and I'm not embarrassed to say that," she said.
"I like earning money."
Jim Fletcher, postman, 75
When Jim Fletcher sat the postal clerks exam in the 1960s, he was in the first group to graduate that weren't trained in Morse code.
"There were still telegrams, but ours was the first school that didn't need to do Morse code," he said with a laugh.
Mr Fletcher has 53 years of service with Australia Post, based across 35 Sydney offices.
"As it came along, I just thought I'd keep going," he said.
"I didn't really think about it, but it just happened.
"I enjoy working, I enjoy the challenge, the companionship you get from co-workers and the fact that it gives me a routine."
While he believes he's lucky to still have a job, he doesn't think it's the role of the government to keep older people employed.
"I think they're doing a good job and they're doing enough [for older workers]," he said.
"It's our responsibility."
Ana Maria Cuadros, banking sales adviser, 66
With 30 years in the banking industry, Ana Maria Cuadros is the go-to staff member at the NAB's Castle Hill branch.
"Because I've been around for so long, staff come to me for advice," she said.
"I've never experienced ageism … because I've been in lots of roles and I can do my job back to front."
After working in both home loans and lending, Ms Cuadros decided to "step back" into a sales and teller role, a position she said had changed dramatically.
Resources for older workers
"When I first joined the bank, we used to count the coins by hand," she said.
"Now we have machines and there is minimum handling of money."
At 66, she continues to work fulltime and agrees with the Treasurer, saying older Australians should stay in work.
"You've got a lot of people … retired, and they don't know what to do with their time," she said.
"If people stay at work, we'll be a lot better."
Topics: economic-trends, older-people, work, health, community-and-society, government-and-politics, federal-government, superannuation, education, adult-education, sydney-2000, homebush-2140, castle-hill-2154, waverley-2024