美国国家公共电台 NPR--Many older workers retired after the pandemic gave them time to rethink priorities

Many older workers retired¹ after the pandemic gave them time to rethink priorities

Transcript²

Older workers have not returned to the workforce³ at the same rate as the under-55 set. Many college-educated older workers in particular are financially secure enough to retire.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Even amid record inflation, there has been some good news about the economy in recent months. Americans are getting back to work, making up for much of the pandemic's decline in the workforce. But who's not back? - many older workers. NPR's Andrea Hsu reports from Southern Maryland.

ANDREA HSU, BYLINE⁴: Lately, Dean Hebert has been hard at work - on his house.

DEAN HEBERT: Well, this is my living room. And I'm proud of this floor. A month ago, this was terrible carpet.

HSU: It's now beautifully laid laminate that looks just like hardwood flooring.

HEBERT: It really has transformed this room. And now I sit here and go, why am I leaving? This is a great house.

HSU: Why he's leaving is because he just retired from his job at the University of Maryland Honors College. He'd been an academic advisor⁶ there for 28 years and thought he might stick around for another five. But the pandemic changed everything. First came working from home - no more hour-plus commute⁷ each way.

HEBERT: I had time in the morning and then time in the evening thinking about and obsessively⁸ looking at retirement⁹ planners - you know, calculators and things like that.

HSU: And then came a second happy development.

HEBERT: I reconnected with someone down in North Carolina that I had known years and years ago.

HSU: But after remote work ended, getting down to North Carolina to see her was harder. So he started doing the math to see if he could make something work. Now, this is a guy who grows his own vegetables, cuts his own firewood and heats his home with a wood stove. So you can imagine, after years of frugal¹⁰ living, plus big gains in the market, things were looking good.

HEBERT: And it just dawned on me at some point that there's enough money there, if I worked for five more years, the only result of that would be I would die with more money in the bank.

HSU: Instead, Dean Hebert chose love. He bought a fixer-upper in North Carolina when interest rates were still 3%. And at the end of July, when he was just shy of 55, he retired.

Lauren Bauer, a fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, is not surprised by stories like his. She's seen them in the data.

LAUREN BAUER: One of the reasons that we saw older workers feel empowered to leave the labor¹¹ market during COVID is that their balance sheets were fine.

HSU: And that's especially true for college-educated older workers. The pandemic gave many of them time to rethink their priorities. It also left many of them in good financial shape. Bauer points out this is very unlike what happened after the Great Recession, when the housing market crashed and many older workers couldn't retire because they couldn't afford to. In fact, in those years, older workers helped grow the economy, making up for the under-55 crowd who'd dropped out of the workforce.

BAUER: But since COVID, it's reversed.

HSU: Now older workers, including those 65 and over, sitting on the sidelines are a big reason the workforce hasn't fully⁵ recovered from the pandemic. But Bauer says this isn't all bad news. After all, it's a good thing when older workers can retire.

BAUER: I would rather have people, you know, stay out of the labor force because they're able to retire with financial security than drive them back into the labor force because their situations have become more precarious¹².

HSU: Of course, these are uncertain economic times. Inflation is at 8%. The stock market's tanked. Dean Hebert's investment accounts are down 21%. But he's got his house on the market now. And once that sells, he thinks he can ride this downturn out. And if not...

HEBERT: It's in the back of my mind as, like, plan B. I could work. I could get a part-time job.

HSU: For now, though, you're more likely to catch him riding his motorcycle.

HEBERT: Oh, there're such great roads down there. You know, I'm out in western North Carolina with the mountains and everything.

HSU: Enjoying his retirement. Andrea Hsu, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF GABRIEL GARZON-MONTANO SONG, "CANTIGA")

1 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

7 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

8 obsessively   

ad.着迷般地，过分地

参考例句：

• Peter was obsessively jealous and his behaviour was driving his wife away. 彼得过分嫉妒的举止令他的妻子想离他而去。
• He's rude to his friends and obsessively jealous. 他对他的朋友很无礼而且嫉妒心重。

9 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

10 frugal   

adj.节俭的，节约的，少量的，微量的

参考例句：

• He was a VIP,but he had a frugal life.他是位要人，但生活俭朴。
• The old woman is frugal to the extreme.那老妇人节约到了极点。

11 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

12 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。