A hundred years ago 92 percent of all males between ages 60-65 were in the labor force. Today that percentage is only 50 percent; the other 50 percent are retired.
Even in the 55-59 age group, retired males portion of the population grew
from 3 to 15 percent and is "still increasing rapidly."
What this means, of course, is that people have a lot more time on their hands compared to previous generations. The following chart illustrates this change.
Lifetime ---------------1880---------1995---------2040
Discretionary Hours 225,900----298,500-----321,900
Earn Work Hours---182,100-----122,400------75,900
Voluntary Hours-----43,800-----176,100------246,000
Discretionary time commences with entry into the labor force and the first row
captures the increase in life expectancy. The second row reflects the decrease in time spent actually earning a living. The third row shows the time spent doing what we like.
In the span of approximately 150 years (1880-2040) the time spent earning a living and doing what we want will completely reverse:
in 1880 we spent 80 percent of available time working
In 2040 we'll spend 75 percent of available time doing what we like
Why the change? Because of the extraordinary technological advances it takes fewer hours of work to earn enough money for one's food supply, and the prices of most goods have decreased in real dollars. As Fogel states, "We have become so rich that we are approaching saturation in the consumption not only of necessities but also of goods that were in the very recent past thought to be luxuries and that were only dreams during the first third of the twentieth century" (See Robert Fogel, The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism. University of Chicago Press).
What will you do as a Christian leader to make sure folks use their discretionary time, money, spiritual gifts, talents and wisdom wisely?
posted by Gary Sweeten @ Saturday, July 29, 2006
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