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Working Late: Older Americans On The Job
2:02 am
Wed February 27, 2013

At 85, 'Old-School' Politician Shows No Signs Of Quitting

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Wisconsin state Sen. Fred Risser at the state Capitol.
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Wisconsin state Sen. Fred Risser, 85, at the state Capitol. He has been representing the city of Madison since 1956.
Credit Narayan Mahon for NPR
Risser listens during a committee meeting at the state Capitol. He has seen the Legislature change over the decades from a body made up exclusively of white men to one that includes women and minorities.
Credit Narayan Mahon for NPR
"The Legislature is more polarized than I've ever seen it," Risser says. "There are more straight party-line votes than there have ever been." Here, he meets with constituents about upcoming bills.
Credit Narayan Mahon for NPR
Despite his age, Risser takes the stairs every day and advises freshmen legislators to do the same.
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Risser has his usual lunch of soup and beer at an Irish pub across from the state Capitol.
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Risser holds a frame with photos of four generations of legislators in his family. His father, Fred E. Risser was a state senator; his grandfather, Ernest Warner, was an assembly member; and his great-grandfather, Clement Warner, was a state senator and assembly member following the Civil War.
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Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 7:16 pm

Increasingly, people are continuing to work past 65. Almost a third of Americans between the ages of 65 and 70 are working, and among those older than 75, about 7 percent are still on the job. In Working Late, a series for Morning Edition, NPR profiles older adults who are still in the workforce.

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Movies
4:48 pm
Thu February 21, 2013

Baby Boomers Return To The Multiplex, And Hollywood Notices

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Maggie Smith plays aging opera diva Jean in the film Quartet. Increasingly, movies are turning their attention to older subjects in order to draw in older audiences.
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Dustin Hoffman attends the AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards with his wife, Lisa Hoffman. Hoffman's Quartet is just one of a new crop of popular films that target an over-50 audience.
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Emmanuelle Riva is the oldest woman to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. Her role in the successful, award-winning Amour shows how an older audience is changing the face of cinema.
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Originally published on Fri February 22, 2013 9:26 am

If you're not counting the days until the release of Iron Man 3, if you're not sure who Kristen Stewart is, and if the last romantic comedy you saw starred Meryl Streep, you just may be over 50.

That's a segment of the moviegoing audience that may have been neglected once — but no more. A number of films appealing to older audiences, or films that have themes closely related to aging, have been scooping up nominations for Oscars and other awards.

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Working Late: Older Americans On The Job
2:08 am
Wed February 20, 2013

When A Bad Economy Means Working 'Forever'

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The recession put a dent in Sims-Wood's savings, and she expects she'll have to stay in the workforce "forever."
Credit Gabriella Demczuk / NPR
Part-time librarian Janet Sims-Wood, 67, helps student Andre Williams navigate the online catalogue at the Accokeek Library at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md.
Credit Gabriella Demczuk / NPR
Sims-Wood goes over computer data with librarian Maria Bonet. Though Sims-Wood is on the job at a time when she thought she would be retired, she stays positive. "I have faith that things will work out. I don't care how bad they are. It's going to work out," she says.
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Originally published on Wed February 20, 2013 7:34 pm

Increasingly, people are continuing to work past 65. Almost a third of Americans between the ages of 65 and 70 are working, and among those older than 75, about 7 percent are still on the job. In Working Late, a series for Morning Edition, NPR profiles older adults who are still in the workforce.

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Working Late: Older Americans On The Job
2:52 am
Wed February 13, 2013

Series Overview: More Americans Working Past Retirement Age

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John David, 73, chats with one of his students after his exercise class at the 92nd St Y in New York.
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Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 7:58 am

The top financial worry of Americans is that they won't have enough money when they retire, according to a recent Gallup poll. And the average age at which Americans expect to retire keeps rising — from age 60 in the mid-1990s to age 67 now, the survey showed.

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Working Late: Older Americans On The Job
2:43 am
Wed February 13, 2013

For One Senior, Working Past Retirement Age Is A Workout

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John David, 73, teaches fitness classes to help older people stay healthy and fit. Here he teaches an hourlong class at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.
Credit Shiho Fukada for NPR
"This turned out to be the real calling. This turned out to be the thing that I am good at, and you can see the people respond, so it's rewarding," David says.
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David's classes help seniors stretch and flex every part of their bodies.
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David teaches at several community centers around Manhattan and also has a few private clients.
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David says his classes can help with everything from improving endurance to fighting osteoporosis to staying mentally sharp.
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Seniors work out at John David's fitness class at the 92nd Street Y.
Credit Shiho Fukada for NPR
David chats with one of his students after his exercise class at the 92nd Street Y.
Credit Shiho Fukada for NPR
After his first class, David hails a taxi to head to his second class of the day at the Jewish Community Center in New York City.
Credit Shiho Fukada for NPR
David leads his class at the JCC. He says he intends to keep teaching as long as he's strong enough.
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David says he loves being able to give older adults what they need from a fitness routine.
Credit Shiho Fukada for NPR
John David, 73, teaches an exercise class called PACE to seniors at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. The former TV producer says he has finally found his true calling.
Credit Shiho Fukada for NPR
John David, 73, teaches an exercise class to seniors in New York City. His routine goes through every muscle, including those on the face.
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Originally published on Wed February 13, 2013 7:29 pm

Increasingly, people are continuing to work past 65. Almost a third of Americans between the ages of 65 and 70 are working, and among those older than 75, about 7 percent are still on the job. In Working Late, a series for Morning Edition, NPR profiles older adults who are still in the workforce.

Retirement isn't what it used to be, or even when it used to be.

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Ina Jaffe is a National desk correspondent based at NPR West, NPR's production center in Culver City, Calif.

Covering California and the West, Jaffe has reported on nearly all of the major news events, elections, and natural disasters in the region. Currently, she covers issues related to aging. She also reports on regional and national politics, contributing election coverage in 2008, 2010, and 2012.

In addition to captivating and informing listeners, Jaffe's reports have garnered critical acclaim. In 2012, her series on rising violence in California State Psychiatric Hospitals was honored with a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media as well as awards from Investigative Reporters and Editors and the American Bar Association. Her three-part series on California's Three Strikes sentencing law won the ABA's Silver Gavel Award in 2010, as well as the Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists. For her coverage of California politics, Jaffe received two California Journalism Awards for reporting on minority political power in Los Angeles and the historic recall election that made Arnold Schwarzenegger governor.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Jaffe was the first editor of Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon which made its debut in 1985. As Weekend Edition Saturday editor, Jaffe shared a 1988 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for the report "A State of Emergency" which covered racial conflict in Philadelphia.

Born in Chicago, Jaffe attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and DePaul University receiving Bachelor's and Master's degrees in philosophy, respectively.