Survey Says!

Hey everyone! We're OLDER! That's right; StatsCan has found out that between 2001 and 2006, Canada got older.


Notwithstanding the liberal use of CAPS, this is ,of course, NOT NEWS. As I pointed out in this post last year, the problem of an aging workforce poses particular challenges for unions. And organizations such as The Conference Board of Canada, the federal government and sundry others have been talking about the issue of "where will all the workers go?" for quite some time now.


The only problem is, I'm not sure anyone's really doing anything about it. Outside of talking about it. Canada.com had an article on how businesses will have to "do away with" their assumptions that workers are largely spent by age 58, which tells me that if we still have to discuss getting over such a ridiculous assumption, that we are not at all ready to convince older workers to stick around--by all accounts, older workers will be the only way we can keep our economy growing. There's just not enough of anybody--GenXers, GenEchoBoomers, new immigrants, trained monkeys--to go around.


And just because there isn't enough to consider with this problem, here's my GenXer cynicism for the day: What about me? Really, I've been waiting long enough to have a bit of fun at work, to get the responsibility AND (this is the most important part) the authority to have my own way for a bit. It's not like I'm 23 and wearing 5 layers of plaid flannel with waffle-weave underwear underneath my army cargo shorts anymore saying, "whatever" to random Boomers. First of all, it's summer: that kind of fashion choice would be silly. But the whole point is: me and mine are actually grown-ups.

I know, I know, it was a shock for me, too.

True, me and many others like me blog, wiki, youtube and are just generally "webby wit' it." True, some of us may still not own our own place. And a (surprisingly large) number of us might just still play video games as a past-time. However, many of us are also over 40 now. And we've all been waiting. We waited in school, where we did an extra degree or two because the economy couldn't be bothered with us in the '90s. We waited in retail, where The Gap had their way with us because hey, if one can't find a "real job" the McJob will pay the bills, especially if it has ads featuring Lenny Kravitz. We waited in our parents' house, because the condo boom (the only piece of real estate one step above the McJob could afford) drove us and our "Associate to the Director of More Important Things" salaries out of the market.


And we're a little tired of waiting, honestly. So, Boomers, if you're sticking around, what exactly do you plan on doing while you're here? Will you be letting go? Are you going to stand back quietly and let somebody different do things for a change? And will you do it without annoying me with talk of how your generation always did it better, or faster, or with more gusto? REALLY? Look me in the eye when you answer that question...