Over 50, and Under No Illusions

[groovedaddy]

IT’S a baby boomer’s nightmare. One moment you’re 40-ish and moving up, the next you’re 50-plus and suddenly, shockingly, moving out — jobless in a tough economy.

Too young to retire, too old to start over. Or at least that’s the line. Comfortable jobs with comfortable salaries are scarce, after all. Almost overnight, skills honed over a lifetime seem tired, passé. Twenty- and thirty-somethings will gladly do the work you used to do, and probably for less money. Yes, businesses are hiring again, but not nearly fast enough. Many people are so disheartened that they’ve simply stopped looking for work.

For millions of Americans over 50, this isn’t a bad dream — it’s grim reality. The recession and its aftermath have hit older workers especially hard. People 55 to 64 — an age range when many start to dream of kicking back — are having a particularly hard time finding new jobs. For a vast majority of this cohort, being thrown out of work means months of fruitless searching and soul-crushing rejection.

To which many experts say, “What did you expect?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/business/how-5-older-workers-saw-a-chance-to-remake-their-careers.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130113&_r=0

[jollyreaper2112]

1. Ha!

Fuck you is the new normal, peasant. Now go throw another orphan on the fire, last one's gone out.

[Brainstormy]

2. Naive and infuriating article

Sounds like "what color is your [old] parachute" claptrap. The truth is that most people over 50 who lost their jobs in the Great Recession didn't have the money to buy 6 houses at $75,000 and become real estate "flippers" or anything else. The article seems to assume that the older unemployed just need some imagination and inventiveness and all will be well. Maybe so, if they were already sitting on a mountain of cash.

[LiberalElite]

3. That's right-

there's never anything written for people who aren't in a managerial or super-skilled (e.g., IT) job. THAT's the "vast majority of the cohort!" NY Newsday printed a letter I wrote complaining about this several years ago in response to an article about over-50 unemployment. That featured a photo of a guy lounging on a boat holding a laptop. He, of course, went on to become a consultant after his company was sold and he was laid off along with many others. I wrote, where are the helpful articles for those unemployed who don't have a laptop, much less a boat?

[russspeakeasy]

4. "soul crushing rejection" is a perfect observation.

[daybranch]

5. a good spot

do you know how much 50 year old people know, 1. How to get along with others
2. How to stick to schedules and promises 3. how the political arena works 4. What history has taught them
4. Knowledge of the connectiveness of political policies . For this reasons 50 year olds and older unemployed are the very best political activists in the country. It is pitiful hat Obama's organization and political campaigns so many more of the community organizations cannot remove their unwarranted preferences toward the young and hire these wonderful experienced workers. As an organizer. give me 1 committed 50 year old anytime over 3 enthusiastic college age people. 50 is not old, just trained, with 20 more years of highly productive work to go.

[duffyduff]

6. What a load of garbage

The problem lies with Washington policies which have all but destroyed this country.

Why the hell should I have to move across the world just to survive? That is utter bullshit.

Going into business for oneself doesn't work, either, if there is no other income to fall on. There's no demand anyway, so you can't make a living at it.

This article is just a pack of lies and a neoliberal's wet dream.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. I tried to brainstorm about self-employment with a long-term unemployed friend

I was lucky in that I have a skill (Japanese-English translation) that people will pay for, but my friend had only skills that would work as part-time jobs (grant writing, fundraising) and she had health issues that limited her ability to retrain or relocate.

And what about the laid-off 50-something whose entire job history was in manual labor?