Work, retire, repeat The uncertainty of retirement in the new economy

Ghilarducci (New School) aims to "shake up" the debate about retirement. With "righteous fury," she criticizes the "working longer consensus," which says that retirement ages should increase somewhat as life expectancies rise. She identifies a number of "myths": that most people actually choose when to retire, that work is good for older people, and even that working longer makes people better prepared for retirement. Much of her argument is based on the assumption that one should "save, invest, and work so that you have 10--11 times your target spending in retirement (usually the spending you did right before retirement) to fund" retirement. This is a very high bar--well above what most retirement planners deem adequate. She proposes a paternalistic Gray New Deal, which includes increasing taxes to fund a newly mandated, defined-benefit pension plan and to stabilize Social Security. Most economists won't agree with her argument that employment of older workers hurts virtually all other workers. The most interesting chapter is a review of studies, titled "Working Longer Can Harm Your Health." One of its subheadings is more accurate: "The Work-Health Connection Is Complicated." Summing Up: Recommended. With reservations. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. --Robert M. Whaples, Wake Forest University

Labor economist and recognized retirement expert Ghilarducci (economics and policy analysis, New Sch. for Social Research; Rescuing Retirement) presents a grim view of the current ominous realities of retirement in the United States and offers recommendations for improvement. Many aging Americans have abandoned their dreams of a dignified retirement and must continue to work as long as their health allows. The overly simplified answer to the retirement crisis, that people just need to work longer, fails Ghilarducci's litmus test; she believes this fallacious reasoning endangers workers' health and discriminates against people in low-wage occupations. She shares true stories of people locked into jobs not because they love to work but because they must, and her meticulous research analyzes how working longer does little to improve retirement security and inadequate pensions. Her solutions include improving jobs and pensions for older workers. VERDICT This highly recommended book focuses on middle- and lower-income people who do not have millions in their retirement accounts and who are particularly concerned about the retirement possibilities that their children and grandchildren will have. It nicely updates Dora L. Costa's The Evolution of Retirement and will appeal to fans of Jessica Bruder's Nomadland.--Dale Farris