Thank goodness the recession is over

[kayjayuu]

For the unemployed over 50, fears of never working again
Of the 14.9 million unemployed, more than 2.2 million are 55 or older. Nearly half of them have been unemployed six months or longer, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate in the group - 7.3 percent - is at a record, more than double what it was at the beginning of the

Comments

[moonshaz]

As one of those over 55 unemployed Americans, I can DEFINITELY confirm that I have the fears this article talks about. In fact, I just commented today in a letter to a friend that I have about a year and a half before my 62nd birthday, when eligibility for Social Security benefits kicks in. It's already been that long since I had a job that wasn't temporary and/or part time, so it's entirely plausible to me that I could get to 62 without things improving in the meantime. I had planned to work to age 70, or at least 65 (the amount of monthly benefits goes up significantly if you wait until 65 to claim them, and even more at 70), but I am not counting on having that choice. Not at all. And if nothing has happened job-wise by age 62, that monthly benefit check, small as it may be, is going to look pretty darned good. *sigh*

[kayjayuu]

If you go to the comments on the story, there are about 5K+ people who have the exact scenario you do. It's not being talked about; everyone has their panties in a wad about the lowered lifetime earnings expectations of this year's high school graduates.

Whatev. I don't even expect Social Security to be there for me, and I haven't for fifteen years. I have nothing in savings, so I suppose I'll just go wander out onto the prairie when it's my time.

Good luck to you, though.

[floundah]

"But the joke is on the younger generation, because they'll have the jobs that funnel the money to government entitlements that'll take care of us fogies on a subsistence level."

Except that there's a lot of people who want to completely do away with Social Security, or at least cut it back severely so that even subsistence won't be possible. And that's just in Massachusetts, which is supposed to be a rather blue state.

[broadwaypoetez]

Joke is also on the younger generation that was told to enter into geriatric fields. "They'll need your help- you will be so marketable! Certainly the government will provide for you and give you work with all the baby boomers retiring!"

I'm so angry because I hate that it's going to suck for you guys and that students with gerontology training can't find jobs to help you find jobs.