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In reply to the discussion: Unemployable At 50 Fate Of Present And Future Workers [View all]Flatulo
(5,005 posts)I lost my last real, high-paying engineering job in 2009. The very day the market imploded my company (Seagate) announced it would close a design center (ours). 160 engineers and technicians and staff were let go. We got a very generous severance package, which was 2 weeks pay for each year of service, capped at 52 weeks. I walked out with almost 50 weeks pay.
But the jobs didn't really go away - they just went to China. We had been training our replacements for the prior tree years. We just didn't know it.
Because my skill set was very good, I was able to find work after only four months, but only because a friend vouched for me. It was a very good company run by very bad people, Evergreen Solar. I got in as a contractor, taking a $45,000 pay cut and losing all my benefits. During the year that I was there the stage was being set to sell the company to Chinese interests. After a year my contract was up and I was let go. Within the next 12 months, the entire operation shut down and all the capital equipment was sent to China, and every last soul was fired. The top guys made millions in the sale.
I sent out a flurry of resumes, and actually got a half-dozen interviews, but after each one I knew, just by looking at the cross-section of employees (all younger) that I didn't have a prayer.
I eventually got hired again, this time as a full-time employee with benefits but alas, took another $13,500 pay cut. The hours were absolutely brutal - 12 hour days were expected at a minimum, and I just couldn't keep up due to some serious back problems. After 10 months and change, I took a few weeks off on STD to get physical therapy and and was immediately fired. I filed for Workmen's Compensation and the case is still in court two years later.
I filed for SSDI in September of 2011 and to my everlasting relief was approved on the first try. I get the maximum benefit, since I was a high wage earner my entire career and always came up against the income cap. Without this, I would be burning through my savings at a ferocious clip and would be homeless after a few years.
I know of lots of over-50 engineers who've also been slowly dying over the last few years. There are supposedly lots of jobs out there, but no one wants to hire someone who makes good money or may get sick.
I don't know where things are headed, but this isn't good. All that engineering talent lying around, and companies want to bring in thousands of H1b workers. Even if you do get a job, the instant your company even talks about Far East manufacturing, get ready for the worst.