The American economy, whether in government or private industry, has found retirement a convenient practice for managing the lab

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问题     The American economy, whether in government or private industry, has found retirement a convenient practice for managing the labor force. On the positive side, widespread retirement has meant an expansion of leisure and opportunities for self-fulfillment in later life. On the negative side, the practice of retirement entails large costs, both in funding required from pension systems and in the loss of the accumulated skills and talents of older people.
    Critics of retirement as it exists today have pointed to the rigidity of retirement practices: for example, the fact that retirement is typically an all-or-nothing proposition. Would it not be better to have some form of flexible or phased retirement, in which employees gradually reduce their work hours or take longer vacations? Such an approach might enable older workers to adjust better to retirement, while permitting employers to make gradual changes instead of coping with the abrupt departure of an employee. Retirement could be radically redefined in the future.
    Earlier criticism of retirement at a fixed age led to legal abolition of the practice, for the most part, in 1996. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act forbids older workers from being limited or treated in any way that would harm their employment possibilities. Still, most observers admit that age discrimination in the workplace remains widespread. Sometimes such discrimination against older workers is based on mistaken ideas, such as the false belief that older workers are less productive.
    In fact, empirical studies have not shown older workers to be less dependable in their job performance, nor are their absenteeism rates higher.
    There is also much support for the idea of work life extension; that is, adaptations of retirement rules or employment practices to enable older people to become more productive. In favor of this idea is the fact that three-quarters of employed people over 65 are in white-collar occupations in service industries, which are less physically demanding than agriculture or manufacturing jobs. As a result, it is sometimes argued, older people can remain in productive jobs now longer than in the past. In addition, some analysts point to declining numbers of young people entering the workforce, thus anticipating a labor shortage later. That development, if it occurred, might stimulate a need for older workers and a reversal of the trend toward early retirement.

选项 A、it gives more leisure to old people than they know how to use.
B、it costs too much money in the form of retirement pensions.
C、it is too rigid and flexibility should be integrated into it.
D、retirement should be practiced only in the public sector.

答案C

解析 事实细节题。文章第二段前两句指出"现在有人批评退休制度,他们指责退休制度过于僵化,例如说它是一种典型的要么全有要么什么都没有的主张。员工通过逐渐减少工作时间和延长假期,来实现灵活的、阶段性的退休方法是否会好些呢?"由此可知,退休制度的反对者认为"目前的退休制度过于僵化,应该采取灵活的退休制度"。
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