In the 80s, after you graduated from college and got a white-collar job, you probably didn't have much in student loans, and if you did, you could be assured you'd pay them off in a couple of years. Then you'd have money saved up to put down on a house. If you wanted you could get married and have kids. Take two weeks vacation every summer to the shore or the mountains. You expected to be able to afford to put your kids through college, and after 35 years or so of service, you could retire with a pension and a gold Rolex as thanks for your service.

▲

jleyank 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Where there ever pensions in the tech business? Maybe ibm in the 50’s or 60’s…. Did DEC have pensions? Large, old employers like governments or pharma or union-supporting companies had pensions, but the rest had “defined contribution” retirement instead.

Computers blew away the pink-collar job fields which took away much of the non-tech employment. Hard to assemble a 2 tech family with children due to the lack of remote work and the lack of affordable housing where the job-islands are. And a house then was way, way smaller and less featureful than what people want today an and toys were also way cheaper and simpler.

	▲	defrost 8 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Where there ever pensions in the tech business? Superannuation schemes in Australia, Singapore, etc. Mind you these kinds of schemes provide pensions for all workers across all industries and aren't limited to the tech business.
	▲	littlexsparkee 10 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		what the market delivers and what people want aren't always the same. imo demand is there for smaller dwellings, it's just not profitable enough to get delivered either because of the margin on large spaces / needing to overcome high labor & overhead. i would love to live in an ADU were it to be cheaper than a 1 bed or well sited / modern.
	▲	HeyLaughingBoy 10 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I started a job in summer 1998 and I had a pension until they were acquired in about 2011 or so. It was so invisible that I forgot all about it until I switched to another job and they contacted me to decide what to do about the pension now that I'd left. There aren't many, but they are out there.
	▲	cratermoon 9 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I did not distinguish pensions per se from other programs run and, most importantly, guaranteed by the employer. In all cases the employee could be assured of a minimum retirement income based on years of service and salaries. This is in contrast to 401k and similar investment schemes where, at best, the employer will partially match employee contributions but at the end of 35 years the actual value of the funds is subject to the vagaries of the stock and bond markets and may not be sufficient to live and could even be zero. The point being: risk and responsibility for retirement is entirely on the individual.

▲

littlexsparkee 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's my understanding that pensions were quite rare, certainly much more so than 401ks, so at least that expectation might be a bit more rosy than reality.