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Age – the last bastion of discrimination?

Published: October 26, 2021

A few years ago, I did that silly race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban called the Comrades Marathon. I licked my wounds for days, if not weeks, afterwards. A few months later, at a function at the Stellenbosch University Statistics Department, I bumped into my actuarial science professor of almost three decades before, Caspar Greeff, a legend in running circles. Caspar used to tell us way back when we were students that it is impossible to become an actuary if you do not have a big dose of tenacity in your veins, and one of the ways to kindle it was to become a long-distance runner. He would then challenge us, youngsters, to join him for an upcoming half-marathon. Now, when you are a twenty-something, you think you are invincible, and some of us would take up the challenge, eager to kick the old prof’s backside. But Caspar, mid-fifties at the time, would eventually leave us in his wake. He must have done the Comrades more than 40 times over the years. “Prof, by the way, I finally managed to do the Comrades the other day”, I told him. “Ah, I did my last one a few years ago, aged 76,” he replied, with some sadness in the eyes, for finally having to hang up his “boxing gloves” on this one. Now, I was quite proud of my time, just over ten hours, comfortably inside the 12-hour cut-off. And then I made the mistake: “If I may ask, Prof, what was your time on that last one?” “Managed a sub-ten,” came the reply. Ouch!

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This brings me to the topic of age. COVID-19 has reinforced the idea of older people as frail and vulnerable. Some previous pandemics have largely affected the young. As much as later mutations of the virus seem to affect younger people more compared to the initial variant, statistics show that the mortality rate for people younger than 30 – especially when one looks at children and teens – is very low compared to people older than 30.

In recent months there have been more reports of younger people (between 30 and 50) who died from COVID-19, but people most at risk remains those older than 60.

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Nobody likes to be stereotyped, and I am sure many older people do not like to be thought of as vulnerable. Yet, one cannot argue against the statistics. But here is the big question: Is it just an age thing, or has it a lot to do with lifestyles and co-morbidities? In other words, is a fit and healthy 70-year-old not more likely to survive COVID-10 than a 40-year-old with underlying health conditions? There are so many things about this virus that we do not know with certainty yet.

It is interesting that some of the most important jobs in the world are performed by people at advanced ages. US President Joe Biden will turn 79 later this year. It means that, if he succeeds in getting a second term, he will be 86 when he steps down. Alan Greenspan, the famous chairman of the US Federal Reserve (basically their central bank governor), was 80 when he stepped down in 2006. There are many examples of other heads of state, central bankers, entrepreneurs, captains of industry, who are deep in their seventies or eighties. Perhaps the ultimate example is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, a.k.a. the Queen of England, who turned 95 in April this year, making her the oldest monarch in world history. In Britain, second place goes to Queen Victoria, who was in comparison a youthful 81 when she passed away in January 1901.

There are so many examples of people who have done, or who are still doing amazing things deep in their eighties or nineties. In the entertainment world, Clint Eastwood jumps to mind. He is 91 and still directs movies. Eastwood has always been a consciously fit and healthy person, using a combination of healthy eating, plenty of exercise, both cardio and anaerobic, and never having smoked.

Warren Buffet, the famous investor, is 91. He once said: “I like my job so much it keeps me young. Watch out, Methuselah’s record might be in jeopardy!” According to the Bible, Methuselah reached 969! Buffet’s partner, Charlie Munger, is 97. Apparently, when asked last year at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual general meeting, if he had one wish, what that might be, he thought a while and then replied: “Oh, if only I could be 90 again!”

 

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This should not surprise us too much at PPS, as we often see our professional members carry on in their professions until very advanced ages because they love what they do.

But if the world trusts people in their seventies and eighties with some of the most important jobs on the planet, why do we still have retirement ages in the sixties? I am very happy that we have increased PPS’s retirement age in 2020 from 60 to 65. But I am asking myself: Is the whole concept of a retirement age not something that has reached its sell-by-date? Is it still relevant in the 21st century? Should the rule in the corporate environment not be: After a certain age (let us say 60 for argument’s sake), we carry on if both the employer and the employee want to carry on. If one of the two parties call it quits, then “retirement” happens, without any penalty to any party. But if both want to carry on, then they carry on, ad infinitum. We already have a few examples at PPS of people in their seventies, and I just love it. To lose people at the peak of their experience and knowledge seems a bit silly to me. And with anyone over 60 having a good chance of living past 90 these days, COVID-19 forbid, people need to find ways to fill those added years productively. And not only for the money. For the purpose. For the passion.

Age discrimination has long blighted labour markets around the world. Age is almost the last bastion of diversity to be tackled. In 2017, a group of US researchers reported what happened when they sent out more than 40 000 job applications, all fictitious. The results were predictable. The older the applicant, the less likely they were to get a call-back, particularly if they were female. And the COVID-19 crisis is likely to make age discrimination only worse.

Should we not judge people on their ability, skills and experience, and not on gender, culture, ethnicity or … age? I have seen many old forty-somethings. And I have seen many young seventy-somethings. Perhaps age is not a vintage-year thing, perhaps not even a health thing. Maybe you become old when you have lost your ability to be open to new ideas and to stay curious. Luckily being curious is one of the values that we treasure at PPS.

There are a few colleagues at PPS who are nagging and challenging other colleagues to do the Comrades again. These are the kind of people your mom would have warned you against as a youngster. But I challenge you, even if you have no plans to run a Comrades, get up from your desk, start moving, and remain young!

 

 

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