Young entrepreneurs - the new 'cool'

Recent research from Barclays Bank shows there has been a 15% rise in business start-ups among those under the age of 25.

"Young people can bring sky high levels of ambition and 'out-of-the box' creative thinking. And these are characteristics we have found to be perceived as critical to entrepreneurial success," said John Davis, marketing director for local business at Barclays.

This MSN article by by Emma-Lou Montgomery, talks about 5 hot UK entrepreneurs.

First Baby Boomer to Retire in USA

On a recent trip to the US a front page article on the complimentary hotel newspaper caught my eye. Kathleen "Kathy" Casey-Kirschling - described as the nation's first baby boomer is retiring and has filed to collect her Social Security (state pension) early at the age of 62. School teacher Kathy was born at 00:01am on January 1st 1946. She is on the leading edge of what the Social Security administration refers to as a "silver tsunami," nearly 80 million Americans born from 1946 to 1964 who will qualify for Social Security over the next two decades. The first ripple of that tsunami, more than 3 million Americans, turns 62 next year. Like Casey-Kirschling, about half are projected to choose early retirement. Those who remain in the work force will qualify for full benefits when they turn 66 in 2012. The article contained some interesting facts:

• When US Social Security was created in 1935 - for every retirement benificiery there were 42 working people paying in
• In 2007 - this ratio had reduced to 3:1
• By 2020 - it is estimated that the ratio will be 2:1. Each couple will in effect be responsible for supporting one senior citizen

Interesting stuff - but what does this mean for the world of work? Well, it's impact will be increasingly felt in both public and private sectors. Research by Bersin Associates reveals that in the US, 50% of senior managers will retire from the top Fortune 500 companies within the next 5 years. Other research shows that NASA could loose up to 50% of its workforce to retirement. If organisations are not prepared for this then thousands of man-years of experience, expertise and knowledge will walk out the door. Organisations need to start thinking about this issue now.

I wrote about this here in a previous posting http://Generationxynext.blogspot.com/2007/09/when-is-your-organisations-next-dec.html