megram - Index

megram - 55GTA - Index

Why are the boomers having such a
profound social and economic effect?
Who are the boomers?
Baby boomers are generally defined as the children born
between the end of the Second World War and the early 1960s.
In Canada, the baby boom is usually described as the generation
born between 1947 and 1965.This is because Canadian
soldiers were repatriated later than American servicemen, and
Canada’s birthrate did not start to rise until 1947.
The bulge in births was partly a reaction to the aftermath
of the Depression of the 1930s and partly to the spirit of optimism
that flourished with the ending of the Second World War.
As the future looked brighter, more people got married and
women in particular married at a younger age.
Just after the war in Canada, the average number of
births for every 1,000 people was 28. However, the children
of the baby boom did not have many children or grandchildren
(in part, a result of the use of the birth-control pill). By
1970, the birth rate had dropped to 17 for every 1,000. Some
30 years later, it hovered around 11 per 1,000 and is threatening
to drop further.
What defined the boomers apart
from their time of birth?
The boomers were the first group to be raised with televisions
in their homes. Steve Gillon, author of Boomer Nation:
The Largest and Richest Generation Ever, and How It
Changed America, described television as “the institution that
solidified the sense of generational identity more than any
other.”
Priorities for Baby Boomers
Older boomers (born between 1947 and 1954)
• Financial security
• Investments in property and the stock market
• RRSPs
• Pensions
• Health care
• Family (estate issues in particular)
Younger boomers (born between 1955 and 1965)
• Creating wealth
• Growing investments
• Buying additional property
• Family (caring for aging parents, launching children)
• Longevity
September 2008 • 16 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine
The music (Rock and Roll, Motown,The Beatles) and the
advent of transistor radios also had a major effect.
Significant events that helped define boomers included
the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King,
the civil rights movement in the U.S., the war in Vietnam,
Woodstock,Watergate and the Cold War.
The baby boomers are a demographic tidal wave.
Boomers helped influence and, in turn, have been influenced
by the changing world around them.
As pointed out in The Boomer Effect, a 2007 report by
Capgemini Consulting, the baby boomers have lived through
“economic prosperity, political turbulence, changing cultural
landscapes, societal upheavals and technological advances.
They have seen it all — from a cultural revolution to a protracted
war, from civil rights to changing sexual mores, from
oil shocks to market booms and busts, from a tragic terrorist
attack to devastating natural disasters.”
Just as the baby boomers entered the workforce en
masse in the 1960s, the oldest boomers are retiring en
masse. Most of the youngest boomers will retire in another
10 to 15 years.
The most recent census from Statistics Canada notes that
Canadians approaching retirement are now the fastest growing
demographic in the country.Aging boomers account for
close to a third of the country’s population and the number
of Canadians aged 55 to 64 — the older boomers that make
up the group most likely to be considering retirement —
jumped by 28 per cent in the past five years to 3.7 million. In
the next decade, one in five members of the country’s workforce
will be between 55 and 64.
The mass exodus is already having a profound effect on
corporate memory, experience and transfer of knowledge in
business and government. It is also affecting the country’s
economic future in terms of the enlarged senior citizen population
drawing pensions and the demands on the health care
system.The average cost of health care and other social services
for seniors is approximately five times that of similar
services for young adults. Currently, well over four million of
Canada’s population is 65 or over — a number that can only
grow as more and more boomers hit 65. There are close to
5,000 centenarians in Canada. Meanwhile, fewer young people
are marrying or having children.Simply put,Canadians are
living longer and having fewer babies.
The declining birth rate among boomers and any children
they have had,combined with the increased costs in caring
for aging boomers, has led federal and provincial governments
to focus on adding to the number of immigrants in an
effort to bridge the financial gap. Therefore, the face of
Canada is changing drastically.