KEY POINTS:
Gardening grandmother Eileen Herbert might be 69, but she still works at least 32 hours a week. The Woolworths checkout supervisor has no immediate plans to retire and she's far from alone.
A record number of seniors are in work, scuttling fears that a "grey tsunami" of baby boomers would be reliant on state help.
"We are not a burden," Herbert said. "We pay our taxes and we enjoy the work.
"You come to work, you are meeting different people during the day, you've got companionship, and there are always challenges and change ahead."
Progressive Enterprises, which owns Woolworths, has 200 employees aged 65 or over on the books in New Zealand.
"We are so lucky to work within a company that doesn't discriminate on age," said Herbert.
A study of census data by Kel Sanderson, managing director of Business and Economic Research Ltd, shows the number of people aged 60 to 64 in work has risen from 25 per cent in 1991 to 65 per cent today.
Sanderson said alarm at what one newspaper described as the "grey tsunami" was overstated and needed serious rethinking. He said hard-working, retirement-shunning baby boomers might well prove the Government's Super Fund and surplus stockpiling unnecessary.
"The number of dependants - those not working or looking for work - when compared with those working is not rising, in fact it's falling," he said.
"This means that despite the baby-boomer generation about to hit their mid-60s, the supposed burden on younger workers will get less, not more."
Brien Keegan, business manager of Link Recruitment's Auckland office, said the greater number of older people working means, for the first time, workplaces had three generations employed - baby-boomers, Generation X and Generation Y.
"Companies are becoming more aware of employees who've got a bit more experience under the belt," said Keegan.
"What companies need to think about though is that these people are often looking for a more flexible working environment."
Herbert said: "So long as you have your health, why not work? I'm not one to sit down and put my feet up."
