As American ages upward, so does our workforce. Yet, it seems that there is still a lot of age bias in existence.
When people lose good jobs in their 50s, it’s common for them to struggle in their 60s and in retirement, says Lisa Berkman, a professor of public policy and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who has studied older workers. The 50s are a fork decade professionally, Berkman says. Around half of Americans are not working full time throughout them, and the odds of those people being able to find good jobs in their 60s are low. In contrast, about 80% of people who work full time through their 50s go on to work in their 60s. “When you get to be 60, all the inequality that has accumulated over your lifetime comes into Technicolor,” Berkman says.
Getting a job is difficult at the moment and more difficult if older and I am not sure why. Knowledge is power and older workers have knowledge.
I have a couple of clients who have lost their jobs and are slowly running through their saving and retirement dollars.
Their futures are uncertain. When I worked with a not-for-profit years ago, I became aware of lots of people who exist only on their SS income.