Why are so few teens working? In part, it's due to the declining cohort size of late-wave Millennials/Homelanders. To a greater extent, it's due to teens' declining propensity to work. We've covered many of the reasons elsewhere (see: "Where Have All the Young Male Workers Gone?"). Teen employment is falling out of favor with parents and teachers; college enrollment rates continue to rise; retail (a traditional teen employer) is on the ropes; and let's not forget stricter enforcement of child labor laws. As the story points out, some of those Gen-X teen hires in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" were probably illegal.

For seniors, it's all going the other way. For Boomers born in the 1950s now hitting their 60s, the cohort size is rising steeply. And with each successive Boomer cohort, we see the following trends: declining pre-Medicare health benefit coverage; declining DB plan coverage; stagnating real-dollar net worth (including 401(k)s); more involuntary early retirements; and rising inequality and homelessness. Back in the 1970s, when AARP was mushrooming and the G.I. Generation was entering its "harvest years," the retirement age fell and AARP's main concern was to expand and protect senior entitlements. Today, the retirement age is rising--and AARP's main concern is helping seniors get (or stay) employed.