Political Quotes

“this morning, I appreciate the opportunity to speak on behalf of an important set of provisions in the Democratic program of putting families first--in this case, the provision that gives families some additional security for their pension and retirement. There is no generation in American history which needs to plan more carefully for their retirement years than that which is currently in America's work force. Two fundamental things have occurred. First, people are living longer. One of the great successes of our generation has been its capacity to extend life and extend the quality of life. Today a person who retires can look forward to almost 18 years of quality of life after they leave the workplace. A second thing that has occurred is tremendous mobility within the work force. Our grandparents had an expectation when they completed their formal education of finding a place of employment and in many instances staying in that one employment for the rest of their work careers. Today people are much more mobile and change their jobs at frequent intervals. The chart behind me indicates what has happened just in the last decade in terms of job mobility. To focus on one group of Americans, American males between the ages of 35 and 44, in 1987 the average American male in that middle-age active employment group had been with their current employer for 7.6 years. Less than 10 years later, the average has dropped to 6 years.”