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dictions by (a) allowing optional re
tirement, under certain conditions ap
proved by the retirement board, before
the retirement age is reached; and (b)
by allowing continuation in the service
for a limited number of years after
the retirement age is reached for those
who have clearly not reached the limit
of their usefulness to the service. A
very great responsibility is placed upon
the board with authority to determine
either of these cases and considerable
damage can be done to the morale of
the other employees if these decisions
are not made wisely.
As a result of these difficulties, cur
rent retirement practice supports the
fixing of a compulsory retirement age,
applicable at least to all persons within
a given type of employment, which
practice minimizes the differences in
age at which effective service begins to
decline. A typical compulsory retire
ment age fixed by both private and
public retirement plans is age 65, and
where a higher compulsory retirement
age is found, optional retirement by
age 65 is usually permitted. The fix
ing of a compulsory retirement age is
in the interest primarily of the employ
er rather than the employee, since its
aim is to eliminate from the service
employees whose age has interfered with
their usefulness. Employees dislike com
pulsory retirement even where the re
tirement benefits are substantial, since
such benefits are almost never equiva
lent to the salary being earned.
While the Illinois pension plans place
the greatest emphasis upon length of
service, the average retirement age has
an important effect upon the finances
of retirement systems. Higher retire
ment ages mean a shorter period for the
continuation of annuity payments. Ac
cordingly, raising the retirement age
permits larger annuities with the same
contributions or the same annuities
with smaller contributions. Lowering
the retirement age has the opposite ef
fect. For example, an average retire
ment age of 67 1/2 years was origin
ally assumed under the Federal Social
Security Act. It has been pointed out
that if instead all eligibles retired at
65, the cost would be increased by over
20 percent, while an average retirement
age of 70 would mean a savings of
over %.
(To be continued)
State Workers Give
Blood Under System
(O regon Statesm an, Salem, Sept. 15, 1944)
In order to provide a steady flow of
donors of blood from week to week for
the mobile blood unit the various state
departments are organizing all eligible
employees on a rotating system. A
check of the individual departments
has brought to light some facts which
reflect great credit on these depart
ments and which indicate that the in
dividual employees are fully aware of
the continuing vital need for blood
plasma.
As an example, the public utilities
commission sends an average of five
donors a week who have contributed
more than 20 gallons of blood over the
past year.
Investigation has disclosed that some
departments have an average of 50%
of their employees stationed in Salem
regularly giving blood. Included in this
list are the state police department, the
department of public instruction, the
executive department, the industrial
accident commission, the state defense
council, the corporation department,
the public utilities commission.
Department heads are unanimous in
expressing the hope that more and more
of the employees will respond to the
present appeal and will become and
continue to be regular donors to the
blood bank.