And the closest Western equivalent is the pension system. Also not a perfect comparison since pensioners are obviously older and have more assets on average, and some have large private payouts at the time state pensions kick in. But few people carry on working full time, and the system relies almost entirely on the labour of people who are not entitled to pensions to sustain it, to the point pensionable ages are needing to increase because healthier, longer lived people don't retire any later.
I've seen enough of my elders get their pensions to know what happens. Suddenly their schedule gets MUCH busier. Just because they're not necessarily doing paid work, doesn't mean that they're not doing useful things in society.
