It’s harder for older workers who have lost their jobs to get back to work. According to Ruth Simon in The Wall Street Journal “Nearly eight million older Americans are out of work or stuck in low-quality jobs.”
The problem with unemployment at an older age is the lack of time to make up for any mistakes. With retirement age right around the corner, you should be packing away as much savings as possible. Those years should be your peak earning years as well, but unfortunately, some older workers who have lost their jobs are still struggling to find new ones.
The sad reality is that when many of these folks do find employment, it will be low-quality work, and many of them will keep working in retirement.
Simon continues:
For older Americans, the last few years of work can be a vital chance to patch up thin savings or pay down debt to ease their way into retirement. Many aren’t getting that opportunity.
Greg Miller, 65 years old, a former environmental engineer and contract administrator, was laid off in 2017. He recently gave up looking for full-time work after sending out more than 400 résumés.
“The heartbreak and the discouragement were just unbearable,” said Mr. Miller, who lives on Social Security and a part-time job. He shares a ranch house in Lansing, Mich., with three other men. “I am kind of working without a net here,” he said.
This kind of late-career employment woe is part of a paradox that is deepening the worst retirement shortfall in decades.
Even though the official unemployment rate is just 3% for older workers, the actual jobs environment is surprisingly bleak. Nearly eight million older Americans are out of work or stuck in low-quality jobs that offer little opportunity to prepare for retirement, a Wall Street Journal analysis of government data shows.
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