Adventure Playsets recalled for rotting wood beams

About 275,000 Adventure Playsets wooden play sets have been recalled because the plastic-coated wood of its horizontal ladder can rot and weaken over time and pose a fall hazard, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

More than 6,700 additional sets were recalled in Canada by the government organization Health Canada.

The play sets were manufactured in the U.S. and distributed by Adventure Playsets, based in Amarillo, Texas, the commission said.

This recall involves Adventure Playsets wooden play structures with swings, slides, and ladders.

Each set has a horizontal ladder that functions both as monkey bars and as a swing beam, as well as an end ladder coated with plastic.

The instruction manuals for the recalled play sets have the name "Adventure Playsets" and one of the following model numbers printed on the cover: 

-- Bellevue 1-AP048, and 1-AP012 

-- Belmont 1-AP003

-- Dakota 1- AP046

-- Durango 1-AP016 and 1- AP018

-- El Dorado 1-AP016

-- Madison 1- AP006 and 1-AP015

-- Sedona 1- AP002

-- Sherwood 1-AP049

-- Tacoma 1- AP017 and 1-AP051

-- Ventura 1-AP008 

-- Yukon 1-AP052

Adventure Playsets has received more than 1,400 reports of rotting ladders and 16 reports of injuries, which included nine emergency room visits, the commission said.

The Bellevue, Tacoma and Durango swing sets were previously recalled because of a fall hazard and detaching frames, the recall said.

The sets were sold at Toys R Us, Walmart, Academy Sports and Outdoors, Menards and Mill stores across the nation, and online at Walmart.com, ToyRUs.com, Willygoat.com and in the DMSI catalog, the agency said. 

The recalled play sets were sold from January 2004 to December 2007.

Consumers can call Adventure Playsets at (877) 840-9068 for more information or contact the company online at www.adventureplaysets.com.

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Top photo: The Dakota, one of the recalled Adventure Playsets play sets. Bottom photo: A swing beam on a recalled play set. Credit: Consumer Product Safety Commission

Little teamwork when couples plan retirement -- survey

Despite the recession, most married couples are still mired in a no man’s land of miscommunication about retirement finances, according to research released today by Fidelity Investments.

A mere 15% of couples said they were confident that both the husband and the wife could take over joint finances if necessary, according to the Couples Retirement Study, which was conducted online in April.
Just 45% of married people make day-to-day decisions like budgeting and bill payment together, while only 38% talk to each other about how to invest to save for retirement.

Sixty percent can’t agree on how old they’ll be when they retire, and once they do, 44% don’t see eye to eye on whether they’ll keep working. As for the expected retirement lifestyle, 42% have a different idea than their partner.

But couples usually agree at least about which issues are most worrisome when it comes to retirement finances: first are healthcare expenses, followed by the effect of inflation on their savings and reductions to Social Security funds.

Meanwhile, market volatility has shaken husbands and wives alike -- 41% of married men and 54% of married women say the recession has made them less tolerant of risky investments.

Because of the shaky economy, husbands now plan to retire a year later, at age 64, while wives intend to retire at age 63.

-- Tiffany Hsu

New AARP study of older Latino workers

The AARP released a new study today examining the older Latino work force and how these workers stack up to their white and African American counterparts.

Latinos ages 50 to 69 are among the fastest-growing segments of the graying population and should make up one-fourth of all older Americans by 2050, according to the study. Of the 5.6 million Latinos in that age group living in the U.S., 3.2 million were employed in 2007.

Together, they earned $126 billion, a figure expected to soar to $892 billion by 2050.

Among older Latino men, 71% had jobs or were looking for work, roughly the same percentage as their white male peers. About 55% of older black men are employed.

Slightly more than half of Latinas had work, compared to 58% of older white women and 55% of older black women.

The study found that “mature” Latino workers were dependable and rarely missed work, in part because  lower wages and lack of paid leave made taking time off difficult.

Older Latino men who worked full time earned a median annual amount of $30,400, compared to $50,600 for whites and $36,400 for blacks. Older Latinas made $24,300, while white women made $36,400 and black women made $31,400.

Fewer than half of all older, employed Latinos had a health care plan through their employers from 2006 to 2008, compared to 62% of blacks and 65% of whites. American-born Latinos had higher coverage rates than immigrants – 59% compared to 43%,

Employers sponsored retirement plans for 38% of older Latino workers, compared with 55% of black employees and 62% of white employees.

The full AARP report on older Latinos at work is here.

-- Tiffany Hsu

Five summer jobs teens should avoid

The National Consumers League released its annual Five Worst Teen Jobs report today, and for the third year in a row an agriculture job tops the list of gigs teenagers are advised to avoid.

The League's Five Worst Teen Jobs this year are:

1. Agriculture: harvesting crops
2. Construction and height work
3. Driver/Operator: forklifts, tractors and ATV’s
4. Traveling youth sales crews
5. Outside helper: landscaping, grounds-keeping and lawn service

In this year’s report, the League added illegal jobs in meat packing plants as a Bonus Worst Job. Recent federal immigration raids have found children as young as 15 working in meat packing plants, the League said in a statement, despite laws that mandate employees be at least 18 years old work in the plants.

The League uses government statistics and reports from state labor officials and news accounts of injuries and deaths to produce its annual report, the statement said. The report is also produced with the help of the Child Labor Coalition, the League said.

About 2.6 million 16- and 17-year-olds worked in the U.S. in 2007, the statement said, noting that complete teenage employment records for 2008 haven't yet been released.

The full report, complete with statistics on why those jobs made the worst list, can be seen here.

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Job downgrade = more job satisfaction for older workers, says AARP study

Older workers often switch jobs and employers, and in the process have their pay sliced, their pensions and healthcare benefits thrown out and their managerial responsibilities given to someone else.

But according to a new AARP study, "mature" employees are happier for it, due to a lower level of stress and a more flexible schedule in their new positions. Many are grateful to abandon the daily grind and use the slower-paced jobs to transition into retirement.

Of the 1,705 workers surveyed over a 14-year period beginning in 1992, a whopping 91% said they enjoyed their replacement jobs, compared with the 79% who liked the original positions. The employees were 51 to 55 years old when the study began and  65 to 69 years old when it concluded.

In the new jobs, the median hourly wage dropped to $10.86 from $16.86. Only 20% of respondents were covered by pensions, compared with the 61% covered in their old positions. Employers offered health insurance for 56% of the workers, a drop from the 70% who previously had access to company-sponsored care.

Whereas 22% said they made pay and promotion decisions in their original posts, 14% said the same after switching jobs.

But the new jobs were easier, with 36% of older workers citing stressful work conditions compared with the 65% who were under pressure in their past roles. Schedules lightened up for 45%. 

The switch also led more people to become self-employed -- 24% compared with the 12% who worked for themselves before making the change.

-- Tiffany Hsu