Baby boomers: are they a new wave?
Sol Encel
Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW
Contact Email: s.encel
unsw.edu.au
The expected impact of the baby boom generation has already generated a substantial literature and looks certain to generate much more. In the UK, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation sponsored a series of studies of 'Transitions After 50' in 2002, and these were followed more recently by research conducted by the DEMOS research group. In Australia, the subject has attracted the attention of popular authors like Hugh Mackay and Bernard Salt. The Australia Institute published its own analysis of attitudes and expectations in 2006. Other studies have been carried out by private firms in the finance sector, including the insurance group AXA and the banking corporation Citigroup.
The paper compares the findings of these studies, which present a confusing picture of possible outcomes. Some of them commit the fallacy of treating the baby boom generation as a more or less homogeneous group, while others emphasise that the diversity of responses makes prediction very difficult. This diversity is particularly marked in relation to continued participation in the paid labour force, and to expectations about retirement incomes.
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