Those oldies but goodies…

I’m still working. Part time. Very part time.

I keep saying that this is the year I’ll pack it in entirely, and I am winding down. But then someone offers me a small project, and off I go. This week, I’ll be doing some work for four different clients. Some weeks it’s more, some weeks fewer. And I’m guessing that this will be how it goes for another couple of years. I won’t look for work, but if it happens, it happens.

And why not?

Other than the typing, it’s not physical. It keeps my mind going. It keeps me engaged in the world I spent my career in. I enjoy the folks I work with. I make money. I enjoy doing good work – and I’m really good at the work I do. Sure, I wish it were something else I was so really good at, like writing novels, but, as a well-known novelist once said, so it goes…(That would be Kurt Vonnegut, still writing into his 80’s.)

But do I see myself still working at 85? Not unless I’ve made a transition to writing novels, thank you. Other than working as a volunteer at something or other, I don’t imagine working-working.

Breathing down 70 in the tech world is one thing. (And although I make not secret about how old I am, and some of my clients absolutely know my age, I have a hunch that some would be weirded out if they knew I was 68. In the tech marketing world, 40 is ancient enough.) 85? I should live so long…

There are,however, over a quarter of a million Americans, 85 and older, who are still part of the workforce.

That's 4.4 percent of Americans that age, up from 2.6 percent in 2006, before the recession. It’s the highest number on record.

They're doing all sorts of jobs — crossing guards, farmers and ranchers, even truckers... Indeed, there are between 1,000 and 3,000 U.S. truckers age 85 or older, based on 2016 Census Bureau figures. Their ranks have roughly doubled since the Great Recession.(Source: WaPo)

This is all due to a number of factors: people live longer, fewer people have a pension plan to count on, folks are better educated, the jobs they hold are less physically demanding. And so work goes on.

Some of the older members of the workforce are famous – Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Warren Buffett, and – as we saw the other day at the Boston Pops Fourth of July concert – Rita Moreno. But most are just working away in more pedestrian jobs than member of SCOTUS, billionaire investor, and drop-dead gorgeous entertainer.

Crossing guards are relatively likely to be age 85 or above. The same goes for musicians, anyone who works in a funeral home and product demonstrators like those you might find at a warehouse club store.

But there aren’t a ton of jobs in these professions. You only need so many embalmers. The oldies but goodies, by the numbers, are farmers and ranchers, who don’t retire, but just die in the saddle of their John Deere, with their cowboy boots on. They’re CEOs and in legislative and public administrative posts. (Remember Strom Thurmond? He was nearly 100 when he packed it in as a US Senator.) Other jobs that age well: property managers, lawyers and judges, retail salespeople, bookkeepers and accountants, clergy members, and real estate agents.

On the other hand, the 85-plus brigade are underrepresented among miners, construction workers, and computer programmers.

No 85 year old miners? I’m guessing that there are very few 85 year old ex-miners, what with black lung and the inherent dangers of the job. So I wouldn’t expect there to be many/any guys still manning a pickaxe at age 85.

I’m thinking about the people I know who are still working at my age, plus or minus a year or two. R is an investor. M and H still run their restaurant business, but are transferring it over time to their son. P works in social service. T is a lawyer. So is J. My dentist is in his 70’s, but he’s only in the office part time, and his son is taking over the practice. I see one doctor who’s my age, but my primary is in her early 40’s. Other than dentistry, none of these professions are especially physical.

If I’m still around at 85, wonder what I’ll be up to.