Brutal job search reality for older Americans out of work for six months or more

[xchrom]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/04/brutal-job-search-reality-for-older-americans-out-of-work-for-six-months-or-more/

Despite the good news in today's employment report, nearly two million Americans 55 and older are still out of work.

Economics correspondent Paul Solman looks at the continuing struggles of the long-term jobless in their 50s. It's the latest in an occasional series on older workers and part of his ongoing reporting Making Sen$e of financial news.

JOE CARBONE, President, The WorkPlace: I don't want you to think for a minute that I'm somebody who doesn't understand what unemployment is like.

PAUL SOLMAN: Joe Carbone runs the WorkPlace, a job training center in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

JOE CARBONE: I was unemployed once for eight-and-a-half months. I used to drive 20 miles to do a little grocery shopping so I wouldn't meet anybody who would be able to look at me and ask, “Did you get a job yet?” So, I know what it can do.

[mother earth]

1. But the unemployment numbers are down...

They all need to go back to school and get better skills so they can become competitive.

[Laelth]

2. If Republicans are going to demand self-sufficiency ...

... and if they're going to demand that the unemployed "pick themselves up by their bootstraps" and "go get a job," then it makes sense to me for the government to provide more jobs when the private sector can not or will not do it.

Instead, we get austerity and Federal furloughs. I say, bring back the WPA. There's plenty of good work for people to do on our crumbling infrastructure.

-Laelth

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. The video points out the challenge with that

the WPA isn't for people in their late 50s. That said, full employment of folks in their 20s and 30s will stimulate enough to loosen the tightness where other opportunities would open for older workers.

[Laelth]

9. Precisely. n/t

-Laelth

[Newest Reality]

3. K&R

[Newest Reality]

4. There is a seedy underbelly to this, BTW

Your options at the end-of-the-rope that we are allowing are often, (if you have no family to take you in) are homelessness, suicide, or indentured servant. That third option may be making a comeback.

If you cannot find work in your late fifties and beyond there are people ready and willing to exploit that fact. Since you are, at that point, desperate and don't want to become a wandering criminal, (homelessness is illegal in many places) there is not much in the way of negotiation you can do, so you acquiesce to survive.

You can end-up with a "live-in" position, (taking care of someone's elderly parent, for instance) where your only compensation is a place to live. You work 24/7 with not even a stipend. You may be cooking, cleaning, driving, yard work, etc. You may be required to provide your own food with food stamps. The list goes on.

You have no workplace rights and if you want to be on the street, try complaining or asking for something you want or need.

The trick is, these scenarios are last resort, but the people who take advantage of this can often take on a mentality that they are "helping" you.

There is a new form of potential "slavery" that awaits us and the term "golden years" becomes spending the rest of your working life living years of tin, scrap and broken glass.

There is no value in age in a country where people are merely a commodity. No value whatsoever. We are as good as fodder for a batch of Soylent Sepia.

[chervilant]

5. As a 57YO member

of the "long-term unemployed," I have been considering returning to school to get certified to teach in Arkansas. I've sent my resume and references to the schools proximal to me, and haven't heard a peep out of them (I would be given a provisional license, and I already have teaching experience). I don't want to incur yet another huge school debt when my likelihood of getting a job is nil. Better to stay in the menial clerk position I've gotten. It pays the bills and puts food on my table--who needs luxuries like health insurance, dental insurance, and the like?

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. Great explanation of the quagmire in that video

Here are the links - I googled them up:

Main: http://workplace.org/

Platform 2 Employment: http://www.platformtoemployment.com/

Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/platform-to-employment-connecticut_n_1749763.html

I wonder where their funding comes from to back the first 8 weeks of a temp gig?

[KharmaTrain]

8. Flashbacks Of The Late 70s and Early 80s...

The 70s saw a big change from a manufacturing society to an "informational" one...factories began to close in the the rust belt and move south of the border or offshore other ways. The 50-year olds of that time were mostly blue collar workers who saw their lifetime jobs vanish with the vague promise of "retraining" that eventually resulted in providing a large pool of Wal Mart greeters. I was in my 20s in those days and now am in that 50s-60s group and seeing many of my friends who have seen their jobs vanish with little prospects of any future opportunities. It's "more efficient" for a company to look for one or two younger people who will work for less money and aren't in need of the same benefits.

Many of my parent's generation were "put out to pasture" during the Raygun years and seeing the same thing happening today to my peers. The big difference was my parents could count on medicare and social security to take care of the very basic needs. Today's older unemployed don't have such assurances...

[bluedigger]

12. It's hitting the same group of people, too.

When I graduated from college in the early 80's there was 10% unemployment, which stunted the earnings of my generation for life. Now I'm unemployed, and in my early 50's. They got me coming and going...

[kestrel91316]

27. Your story is my story. And having your own business and

being a medical professional is absolutely NO guarantee of financial success if you entered the workforce during a recession ('82) and have struggled through one recession after another.

I used to think I would do better than my parents (who did fine). Then I hoped to do half as well. Now I am just praying I don't wind up on the street.

[RobinA]

29. I'm Just

a couple years ahead of you and I know exactly where you are coming from. I'm not currently unemployed, but I've been playing catch-up my entire life. While living under that constant shadow - since my very first post-college job in 1980 - of losing my job. I actually made it from 1980 - 2001 without being laid off (I changed careers to stay ahead of the ax), but after that I had two layoffs, 2001 and 2008. Currently I am working at a public sector job where we are in constant danger of closing, but at least my state makes an effort to find people other jobs with the state when positions are eliminated.

I am sometimes annoyed when people talk about this job market and how horrible it is (which it is) while implying that previous generations all walked out of school and into a cushy jobs. Not so fast...

[SoCalDem]

10. "Older"

The gap between 50 & 65 might as well be "death-row".

It's not totally accidental that 50+ers (but under 65) are being pushed out.

These are what used to be called "the prime earning years".

Companies that mark time by weekly beat-the-numbers thinking, are always eager to cut that age group.

As a societal thing, it;s brutal because those people are the same ones who often have college aged kids who will never get to go now, and they sometimes have elderly parents /twenty-something with small kids who gravitate back to their nest at the worst possible time for them, financially.

This is also the time when retirement savings needs to be accelerated.

Untended illnesses will probably "cull the herd", but there is also the loss (to society) of the taxes they would have paid, the tuition they would have paid, the retirement money they might have saved/spent..

We are a lowdown mean society..

[abelenkpe]

11. Health insurance costs

The reason those between age 45-65 have difficulties finding work is not because they arent educated, experienced or hard working. It isn't because they are unwilling to work or demand higher salaries. It is because of health insurance costs. Because the US ties health insurance to employment employers looking to cut costs don't want to risk taking on older employees who tend to have more medical expenses. Growing old is a fact of life. No one escapes growing old. No one escapes needing care as they age. Instead of doing the cost effective and humane thing like every other place in the world an having single payer, the US and it's corporate overlords would rather waste what has traditionally been a persons most productive years. Yay! That's what you get when corporations run our country.

[closeupready]

13. Truly frightening.

K&R

[PD Turk]

14. yep

I'm 51, lost my job in December due to downsizing, 13 years with the same company, up in smoke.

I have sent my resume to countless employers, not a peep, even from those wanting to hire for the exact job I was working

[JDPriestly]

15. The whole country is in denial about this. And Congress is in denial about what it means for

the need to have full, robust Social Security and Medicare in the near future. There is no way that those programs can be cut. To do so would be to issue a death sentence on these now 50- and early 60-year-old unemployed workers.

It is interesting to watch how an employer reviews all the stereotypes about older workers that cause employers to refuse to hire them -- things like higher health insurance costs, inability to learn new things, and being sued for discrimination, age discrimination.

Nobody wants to have a lawsuit against an employer on their record, but the severance package you get may not cover your expenses if you end up being without a job for a long time because of the age discrimination. Older workers are caught between a rock and a hard place. Always best to talk to some lawyers (not just one) who specialize in employment law and are in your state if you think that the real reason you were fired was age and you have good reason to believe that -- say remarks by your boss.

One problem that the report avoids confronting is that older people are often rejected by employers simply because they "look" old. I remember sitting at lunch with a group of young co-workers as they dissed a certain TV weatherman. In their opinion, he was too old to be on TV. They didn't like the way he looked. Never mind that he was respected in his field, did a great job, was reliable, and a familiar personality to millions of viewers. He looked and moved like an old person. Our society is so youth-oriented that it is not surprising that older workers can't get jobs.

No one mentioned the fact that older workers are far less likely to quit their job when a better one turns up, much more likely to get to work on time, to work long hours without complaint and to never miss a day for illness or the illness of a family member. Older workers are incredibly reliable. And they make up for the additional time it may take them to learn something new (often not the case at all) with a treasure of understanding and knowledge that younger workers have yet to learn.

This is a tragedy of our time. And just now, Obama wants to cut Medicare and Social Security. Those programs cannot be cut precisely because so many people now in their 50s and early 60s do not have jobs and are living off their life savings. This is a more serious problem than Congress and the president seem to recognize.

[intheflow]

16. Good to see my generation finally being reported on.

I haven't had a full-time job in 6.5 years. I have huge amounts debt I haven't been able to pay for all that time. During all that time I've read article after article about how horrible it is for young people coming out of college with huge amounts of debt and no job prospects, I've written reply after reply about how it's not just young adults who are being fucked by this economy. I have no retirement savings, no insurance, no savings of any kind. Not to demean the problems young adults face, but they have the next 50 years to work out their financial problems; historically, the US economy turned around dramatically over that amount of time. Time is much shorter for me and my generation.

[Egalitarian Thug]

23. You're absolutely right. n/t

[AnotherMcIntosh]

17. This is an ongoing major disaster.

Yet, on a continuous basis, New Shiny Objects are being pointed to politicians and the MSM.

Somehow we have to get their attention. There's more than one way to do this. Occupy Wall Street started one way. There's got to be others.

My suggestion. Primary every local politician for every position until they take notice.

[Cronus Protagonist]

18. Amazingly timely topic for me after my recent operation

Now that I'm healthy again, I find that I need a lot of cash to pay all the bills I've backed up for the last two months (and more). So I figure I need to get a full-time job. I have a lot of experience writing membership based e-commerce, classified advertising; business software (serious web sites) for corporate clients in the Fortune 500.

I apply for two to three contract and full-time jobs a day. I can't get an interview. I see jobs where my resume shows that I could do the job in my sleep, yet I can't get an interview. People lie to me. I get it. I'm "older" now. And I've not been in the best of health. (I'm fine now, by the way)

I'm "over-qualified" and "not current enough". I considered removing half of my resume - referencing only the last 5 to 10 years so that I wouldn't look so "shockingly experienced". At the interview it would be awkward: "What about the other twenty years, Sir?" Even if I got an interview, I would have to show up with my "experienced" face and "greying" hair.

They would know I'm older. And they would see the premiums on their healthcare insurance going up for everyone in the company if they took me on.

They might also see the resourceful, feisty, entrepreneurial guy who loves to develop solutions to all kinds of informational systems and thereby do my part to help make the company soar. I'm pretty much the stereotype of a Scottish engineer; Scotty on Star Trek makes me smile inside.

They might see that most of the skills and experience that I bring with me can be beneficial to the company, but they won't. Not often anyway; they can't see that if they won't interview me.

Anyway, I can't afford to wait for a year or several years to get lucky. I'm healthy now, and so, I'm back in business again! Self-employed. I'm going to revitalize my business interests, and I have a plan. Which is to develop a portfolio of useful, profitable software tools for sale. Informational systems that are single-task practical tools for small and micro-businesses; tools worth a valuable consideration for the excellent return on investment they offer.

In short, I'm going to bring industrial strength software to main street. Useful tools with a proven return on investment. No hassle. Fixed cost. Tools that work.

I feel better already. Now I have some developing to do!

[MNBrewer]

19. 55? Try 45, or even lower.

[Le Taz Hot]

20. Good video but . . .

the bit about "needing to update their skills" is one the Boomers have been hearing for 30+ years. At one point we were all expected to learn how to use a computer and a variety of software. The VAST majority of us did that. You can't really even get a job without that skill anymore. I also take exception to the lady that intimated that workplace discrimination laws somehow intimidated employers into thinking they'll be sued if an older worker is let go. That smacked of a right-wing agenda via deregulation.

Another objection employers had was that we might not be in good enough shape to perform the job duties. I can see now that, on the rare occasion that I obtain an interview, I can stress that I go to the gym 6 days a week. That was some good information.

[Coyote_Bandit]

21. I Don't Expect to Ever Again Be Employed

I am 50+, over educated, have been out of the work force for a considerable length of time, and am currently an unpaid sole caregiver for an aging parent.

With a little luck I will come into a small inheritance. It will not be a substantial sum tha will enable me to forego the need to earn a living wage. But with a little more luck it will enable me to start over again. I love to toy with th idea of livng abroad but my more realistic assessment of opportunities to expatriate myself suggests that I will be required to invest virtually all of that $$$ inre-training, starting my own small business, and spending extravagant sums for my own healhcare.

Sucks.

[Th1onein]

22. WHOA! That guy in the middle? He's the guy who threw food at a pregnant Micky D employee!

It might not be his age keeping him from getting a job; it might be his attitude.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57577274-504083/geoffrey-weglarz-conn-man-threw-food-at-pregnant-mcdonalds-worker-police-say/

[CK_John]

24. SSI has to be lowered to age 50. It's the only solution, but we are afraid to face it.

[RobinA]

30. SSI

only kicks in if you are dirt poor. It's not really an answer for the vast majority of people.

[Egalitarian Thug]

25. K&R. n/t

[defacto7]

26. K&R and deeply concerned n/t

[DiverDave]

28. I've been on temp. disability from

a shoulder injury.
After I get cleared to work again (I wont be able to drive a truck) I dont know what I'll do.
Hearing that older folks are not getting hired is pretty discouraging.
They will re-train me, I guess, but throwing that money away to get into a job that wouldnt hire me in the first place doesnt make much sense.
I have to look for "appropriate work" or they can just drop me from all benefits.
I'll try, and hopefully get hired somewhere that has insurance.
Being without insurance is the worst, my teeth are falling apart, I just found a big lump above my belly button (a hernia, I guess) I dont know what I'll do about those issues.

Just keep pluggin away, I guess, not much else I can do.