Behind The Mic With Joe Mathieu: Some People May Never Retire

BOSTON (CBS) - I tell you about a lot of depressing statistics but this one just might top them all.

The result of a worldwide study by financial house HSBC: One-in-eight people around the will never be able to retire. That's a global number.

It's even worse here in the U.S. where one-in-five will never be able to stop working.

It's the Myth of Sisyphus.

You keep pushing a boulder up the hill only to see it roll back down so you can start all over again. Working to no end. But I won't get too existential. I don't need to. It's all right here in the numbers.

And it does not take an economist to figure out the problem. We're not saving enough money.

The study shows people have only saved enough money for ten years which is about half of what they need.

And researchers say we're not saving enough because of trouble finding and keeping a job. They also blame low wage growth. Keep in mind that real wages in this country are actually lower than they were five years ago.

And there is also news Thursday that we're digging out of that hole, albeit slowly.

Compensation consulting firm Towers Watson surveyed 900 companies and found they'll give pay raises averaging 3-percent in the next year.

But we'll need more than that to get back to where we were before the recession, never mind realizing a life of leisure.

Follow Joe on Twitter @joemathieuwbz