HELP YOURSELF TO A JOB: A Guide for Retirees

At this time, when the majority of retirees are in working trim and living on less than half their former incomes, an increasing number are wondering about what to do and how to eat in the next twenty-plus years. The author advocates work, for all sorts of sound reasons. She also shoots down that Social Security bugbear with a chart proving that you can still collect enough to make a job worthwhile. Health and work performance studies indicate further that the early and even late elderly can usually hold their own. As to job choice and availability, the author offers the inevitable grab bag of bright ideas and in some cases advice a bit off-target (the demand for employees in nursery or child care agencies is not ""unlimited,"" particularly in states requiring training for under-budgeted institutions). There's a chapter on government aid, feeble though it is. The Age Discrimination Act handles only ages 45-65; and a Senior Companion Program comes up with a smashing 865 positions nationwide--leaving your state with 17.3 Most other programs are not much better. Non-profit senior citizen employment agencies do bridge the gap between government and the mainstream, and here the author is helpful--there's a state-by-state list in the appendix. With a guide to job-hunting techniques, cheerio success stories, and a charge to join the fight for a better deal through organizations for the aging, this is in general a stimulating manual--if a bit fuzzy on some particulars.