Unfinished Work

The Struggle to Build an Aging American Workforce

Joseph Coleman

This book brings readers face-to-face with the unavoidable truth that the population is going to have to work longer as life expectancy improves, and companies and policymakers will play key roles in making this workforce transition possible and successful.
The author mixes narrative accounts of workers' struggles with adaptation together with an analysis of company and government policies, social science research, and expert opinions.
Stories and analyses explore the state of the aging workforces in Japan, France, Sweden, and the United States.
2014 is the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, which featured the unveiling of the bullet train, the nose cone of which was produced by workers featured in the book.

Unfinished Work

The Struggle to Build an Aging American Workforce

Joseph Coleman

Description

The forces driving the first decades of the 21st century—-globalization, technology, and unprecedented wealth mixed with jarring economic instability—-are pushing the day of retirement later and later in life. The era of the aging worker is here. From the rice paddies of Japan to the heart of the American rust-belt, veteran international correspondent Joseph Coleman takes readers inside the lives of aging workers, exploring the factories, offices, and fields where they toil and the societies in which they live, giving the reader a front-row seat to the global older worker revolution.

Profiles of individuals bring to life Coleman's exploration of how countries around the world are dealing with their aging workforces and his advice for how societies can best benefit from and assist their increasingly older population. Readers will come to know Michel Wattree, a retired French trucker who has found a second life as an elementary school bus driver and still nurses dreams of driving America's storied Route 66. The aging crew of Japan's Yamashita Kogyosho, where for half a century they have crafted the world's fastest trains with their bare hands and hammers, exemplifies Japan's adaptive employment strategies that have helped the country deal with one of the oldest demographic compositions in the world. In the United States, Rita Hall is an unemployed hospital worker from Akron, Ohio who hopes that a job training program will save her from spending the rest of her golden years in poverty—-a fear shared by many who will far outlive their retirement savings.

Amidst the stories of how these works are working hard to adapt, Unfinished Work probes the struggles of companies either unable or unwilling to accommodate the aging of their workforces and the quandaries of governments and policymakers eager to control pension pay-outs to retiring boomers, yet unsure how to keep them on the job. What emerges is a compassionate but clear-eyed portrait of a world in the midst of a slow-motion aging revolution that will have vast consequences for present and coming generations.

Unfinished Work

The Struggle to Build an Aging American Workforce

Joseph Coleman

Introduction
PART 1: THE ROUGH RIDE TO A SILVER AMERICAN WORKFORCE
Chapter 1 - The Great Recession and the American Older Worker
Chapter 2 - Boomers: The Want to Work Generation
Chapter 3 - Unfinished Work: America Moves to Make Space for Elders
PART II: THE GRAYING WORLD'S LABOR CRISIS
Chapter 4 - Old Europe Wakes Up and Gets to Work (Sort of)
Chapter 5 - Japan: The Old Man and the Hammer
PART II: BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME
Chapter 6 - Lessons Learned: How to Build the Workforce of the Future
Chapter 7 - What's at Stake: The Retirement Mind and National Vibrancy
Chapter 8 - Endgame: Islands of the Old

Unfinished Work

The Struggle to Build an Aging American Workforce

Joseph Coleman

Author Information

Joseph Coleman, Roy W. Howard Professional-in-Residence, School of Journalism, Indiana University

Joseph Coleman has been a journalist for more than two decades, spending most of that time as a foreign correspondent for Associated Press, including 11 years in Japan. He's reported from almost 20 countries throughout Asia, Europe, and Latin America, covering stories ranging from the Colombian government's battle with the Medellin drug cartel to the Kobe earthquake, the Asian tsunami, and global warming. A graduate of Vassar College and Columbia University, Coleman teaches at Indiana University, where he is the Roy W. Howard Professor of Practice in the School of Journalism.

Unfinished Work

The Struggle to Build an Aging American Workforce

Joseph Coleman

Reviews and Awards

"Unfinished Work is a jewel of insightful reporting that illuminates the human heart of the global economy. In a sweeping narrative that takes the reader from a mountain village in Japan to unemployment lines in the U.S., Joseph Coleman shows us the dignity and desperation of older workers, doing their best to survive and lead lives of purpose and meaning in a world that is rushing to leave them behind. It's a beautiful, urgent book that raises crucial questions about our future, both as countries and as individuals." - Thomas French, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives

"The storytelling is engrossing, the character studies wonderfully rich, the information solid, and the writing superb. Coleman has produced an enjoyable, important, highly readable report from our future." - Charles Hanley, Special Correspondent at the Associated Press, winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, and author of The Bridge at No Gun Ri

"Joseph Coleman presents a creative and informative approach to later life work in Unfinished Work. Using international examples, there are engaging representations of challenging employment situations and outcomes. Major theories, policies, and authorities are worked into the text in interesting ways. Profiles of real workers, company practices, and programs are relevant and impactful." - Harvey L. Sterns, Ph.D. Director, Institute for Life-Span Development and Gerontology, The University of Akron

"A significant and timely contribution to the field. Joseph Coleman demonstrates great skill in guiding the reader through the complexities of the issues, from the need to re-fashion work for ageing societies that devalue age, to how older workers who are at the vanguard of modern employment practices may be treated as anachronisms, to the emergence of innovative public and employer policies against a background of a profound reconfiguration of economies which may limit their effectiveness. Informative and often inspiring, Unfinished Work is recommended as an invaluable resource for scholars, public policymakers and practitioners internationally." - Philip Taylor, Professor of Human Resource Management, Federation University Australia