Underemployment

During the early 1970s, James O’Toole (O’Toole, Hannot, Herman, Herrick, Liebow, Lusigan, Richman, Sheppard, Stephansky, & Wright, 1973) conducted an important study regarding work in America. This group was quite prophetic in proposing that the great challenge in American life may become not unemployment, but instead, underemployment. Young men and women were obtaining bachelor degrees and advanced graduate degrees, yet were finding jobs that had required only a high school diploma a decade earlier. O’Toole et al suggested that these young people were entering the workforce with extensive knowledge and expertise (acquired in a collegiate institution); yet, in many cases this knowledge and expertise would never be fully engaged (or even acknowledged) in the jobs they would perform during their lifetime. Based on O’Toole’s findings, many social analysts further predicted that these underemployed men and women would be likely to suffer from depression and alcoholism (or a related drug abuse problem) during mid-life.

Today, we are finding that these dire predictions may be coming true. There certainly has been widespread discontent among men and women of the Baby Boom generation when they entered mid-life. Many personal and organizational coaches are making their living working with late mid-life clients who are trying to cope with this discontent. What about the younger generation, the Gen-Xers and in particular the Gen-Yers? They are even more educated that the Baby Boomers. They are more likely to accept jobs that are below their level of expertise and below their level of expectations (or at least the level of expectations held by their parents who sent them to college). How does a professional coach work with this new generation of underemployed clients? Do we tell them about the corrosive outcomes experienced by the baby-boomers who were underemployed?

Nonretirement

If the Baby Boomers have already taught us something about the impact of persistent underemployment, they now seem to be in the position to teach our society about the unique challenges associated with new models of retirement—or more accurately nonretirement. There no longer is automatic retirement at age 65. Legal mandates now allow men and women to continue working longer—even after receiving social security payments. Furthermore, it is not just a legal mandate; in many instances, it is a financial imperative. People must continue working because they can’t afford to live on social security (even if it is supplemented by other annuitized funding). A somewhat more positive force is also operating. Many people want to continue working. They are healthy and wish to continue to be engaged in a productive and meaningful life. In some instances, they finally have the opportunity to volunteer for jobs that are truly enjoyable and that contribute to the welfare of their community. They are privileged to become “sage leaders” who participate in community projects, teach in schools, provide support to those who need help, or simply gather a group of fellow elders together at a coffee shop every morning for an old-fashion bull session and gossip-swap (Quehl & Bergquist, 2012).