This perspective is not simply rooted in economics, even if today a large proportion of older Americans are rushing back to work as the downturn wrecks their retirement plans. The geographic separation of families, owing to America’s size and Americans’ mobility, makes the association between retirement and being a grandparent less practicable in the US than it is in Europe.
如今，当听说他们的养老金由于经济危机而大幅缩水时，一些老年的美国人又重新回到工作岗位。即便如此，有这样的观念也不一定完全出于经济的考虑。由于美国广阔的国土和相对流动性的人口结构，家庭成员往往天各一方。这样来说，退休之后颐养天年的概率就比欧洲要小的多。