To answer the questions about where the data comes from - it was research commissioned and paid for by Boeing, Lockheed, Bell labs and a few others.
They were trying to figure out if it was cheaper to let employees retire early and replace them with younger, less paid employees - but then having to pay pensions out for longer to the early retirees. Or if it was cheaper to keep the older employee ( read A scaler ) around till 65 or so at a higher salary but then never paying much pension to him since he dies quicker
The original study literally consisted of them counting pension checks sent to ex Boeing employees over a period of time...fun stuff!
Cathay of course got around all of that by getting rid of both the A scale and the pension fund. So all that remains is for you to shorten your life by working longer while the company wins all the way...
Oh and please do it in check and training - that should take a few more years off your life expectancy.