For those over 50 and unemployed, the statistics are grim. While unemployment rates for Americans nearing retirement are lower than for young people who are recently out of school, once out of a job, older workers have a much harder time finding work. Over the last year, according to the Labor Department, the average duration of unemployment for older people was 53 weeks, compared with 19 weeks for teenagers.
There are numerous reasons ”” older workers have been hit both by the recession and globalization. They’re more likely to have been laid off from industries that are downsizing, and since their salaries tend to be higher than those of younger workers, they’re attractive targets if layoffs are needed.
Even as they do all the things they’re told to do ”” network, improve those computer skills, find a new passion and turn it into a job ”” many struggle with the question of whether their working life as they once knew it is essentially over.
So very, very painfully true. In one’s prior career field, one is competing against younger workers who have a lower salary history. If one seeks an alternative career field, one has “no experience” or has to surmount the “why” and its related suspicion that one’s performance was unsatisfactory. Many job search websites are really funnels for spam and advertising to earn additional college degrees (thanks; I have a couple of graduate-level degrees and am “overqualified” enough). Due to the spectre of “ObamaCare,” employers now fear an older worker will have more health problems and thus raise their health care costs.
Our daughter, who was recently divorced, is in her mid-forties, had to make a career choice after working in the auto insurance business for more than twenty years, and the choice that she made was a good one. Recently, she and her business partner, who also had worked in the auto insurance business, formed a health insurance agency, and their prospects for success appear to be very good. Our daughter is happier than she’s ever been, and even though their business is just getting started, her personal outlook has vastly improved. Ditto for her partner.