The first wave of baby boomers is scheduled to retire in 2011 - the same year my daughter graduates from college. Will a big percentage of the 4 million college graduates wind up jobless because my generation's 3.4 million baby boomers can't afford to retire?

Even if Barack Obama or John McCain convinces Congress to adopt my proposal of a mandatory 401(k) contribution at 9% of pay, it won't be enough for the baby boomers who are scheduled to head out the door. They will probably need to work for another 10 years to save enough for retirement.

Employers may wish that they hadn't listened to the consultants who advised them to dump defined benefit pension plans for 401(k) plans, because now they are stuck with a costly workforce that can't afford to retire at age 65.

I don't care what the judges say, age discrimination exists because of economics, not bias. We geezers are expensive. We demand higher wages because we've got years of experience. We run up big medical bills and need pensions that last us a lifetime.

Average annual medical claims costs for older employees are more than triple of those for individuals entering the workforce - more than $7,600 a year for workers in their 60s, compared to around $2,100 for those in their 20s, according to Towers Perrin.

Companies are cutting back on retiree health benefits, which is why workers need to stay on the job longer, so at least they'll have coverage until Medicare kicks in.

The percentage of large firms offering retiree health benefits dropped from 32% in 1997 to 22% in 2001, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Retirees who are lucky enough to have health benefits need to pay more for them.

In 2006, 74% of companies increased the out-of-pocket costs for Medicare-eligible retirees, including premiums, drug co-payments and out-of-pocket limits, according to Hewitt Associates and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

To put it another way, employers that decided to save on pensions by switching to 401(k) plans will now foot the bill for well-compensated, medically expensive baby boomers, rather than their lower-paid, medically cheaper kids.

It seems like a penny-wise and pound-foolish strategy to me.

Jane White is the president of Retirement Solutions LLC, an advocacy and educational organization dedicated to the retirement adequacy of 401(k) participants.