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.
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