Mike's Minute: The Census work numbers give me hope

The Census, and some of those numbers released this week, really are a treasure trove of not just fact and stats but, I would have thought, hope. 

That astonishing move south, with the tens of thousands who have headed to the South Island and particularly Christchurch, is a framework for what the whole country could be. 

A few choice decisions, a bit of get-up-and-go, a bit of cooperation and a bit of vision. There are parts of this country that clearly have it right and are clearly magnets in their own right. 

Then there were stats around work. That very word "work" is a problem 

It's reported as a negative. "More and more people are working longer", indicating you want to stop. 

You want to stop of course because of the pension. You can stop anytime you like. There is no law around age and work. 

But the stats and the reportage of work and age are increasingly out of date. As we live longer, of course we are going to work longer. Why wouldn’t we? 

Work is actually good for us. Work is fun. Work is rewarding, financially and emotionally. 

We are challenged by work. Work should not be a thing that you expect to end. It’s the same as health and fitness, or diet, or leisure. 

50% of us are working between the ages of 65 and 69. A quarter of us are working between ages 70 and 74. Even 10% of workers are over 75. 

And why not? 

If you resent it and have to work, fair enough. If psychically you are knackered, sure, play bowls. 

But the days of Grandad and a gold watch and one company for life and the company pension are long gone. 

We need to break the psychological hold Superannuation has over us. It's not even a lot of money. 

If it was lotto I'd get it. But it’s a bare minimum and it speaks, sadly, to this country's productivity and work ethic that too many are too reliant on it. 

Working longer will actually lead to better health outcomes. 

Hopefully the kids, who the Census tells us are working more as well with teenagers having never been more employed, will enter the workforce with a view that work is for life, because we see work for the good, not work for the drudgery. 

If you happen to be working into your old age and doing it in the South Island, that’s not a bad life at all.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.