Too Old, Too Experienced to Work

There have been a lot of news stories in the past year or so quoting surveys saying the majority of baby boomers, the oldest of whom at 62 can begin collecting Social Security this year, intend to work past standard retirement age. In the same breath, the reporters tell us this is good news because there is a shortage of workers.

However, the reason there is a potential labor shortage is that boomers will be retiring and there are millions fewer people in generation X to take their places in the workforce. I haven’t reported here on these stories because I can’t make sense of them: if boomers are not retiring, there isn’t a worker shortage.

Although it appears that some companies are marginally more enlightened recently about hiring or keeping older workers, age discrimination in the workplace is far from dead. And anyway, I have more faith in Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams to have his finger on the pulse of the working world than surveys and pundits. [Hat tip to Donna Woodka of Changing Places.]

If you are having trouble reading the cartoon, there is a full-size version here.

[At The Elder Storytelling Place today, Darlene Costner follows up on Lia's story a couple of weeks ago about baking disasters with one of her own, Culinary Skills.]

Comments

[Rain]

In many corporations, there is a desire to get rid of the older workers because of benefits. By that age someone is getting more vacation time, has more salary generally and it's considered cost effective to replace them.

So who to replace them with that has experience or the training? That's where they do the next step that damages the American worker. Can't find enough skilled labor here (which relates to their supressing the public educational system) and must import them from other countries. The benefit of that is generally corporations have (at least in the past) been able to pay those workers less money. Many of them might have to or choose to go back home eventually saving future benefit accumulations.

If the American worker doesn't wake up and care what is happening to their job market, and a lot in the name of keeping the stock market looking good,their children and grandchildren won't have good jobs. Those jobs will be overseas or filled by someone from there.

I am not sure if there is any economic conspiracy behind this or it's all greed and no sense of pride in seeing one's own country doing well. It's seems to be only caring for personal profit. With that, people don't think beyond immediate gain and it's very scary to me for what it will mean for future generations-- and who knows, maybe even us if reincarnation is true.

[Pete]

That Dilbert cartoon has hit me at a moment when I am living out the scenario it describes. Luckily for me, I've spent some time thinking about this so that I have some emotional defenses in place.

Still, it's annoying as hell!

[Kay Dennison]

I have lived this and am bearing the consequences of this. It is ugly. I'd say more but I'm practicing restraint today.

[Linda]

I am still living this at age 60 and have been for several years. It all started when I relo'd and didn't do my research homework on the job market. Felt an Adm. Asst. is an Adm. Asst and that I would find work.

The issue of ageism is "hidden" and impossible to prove. HR folks are apt to tell everyone - we hired so and so - better fit. Better fit can mean anything and yet, in reality - a strong somber reality is that since they are paying the salaries, they can hire who they think can work out.

In my research I've learned stats can mean anything. Certain sectors such as nursing are those that fall into today's topic. There is a shortage of nurses coming into the workforce. Having a few friends that are nurses, I can say with a little bit of confidence that they are of the few in this work enviroment that have secure jobs. Yet, there is much concern because recent grads are not heading toward the nursing field.

It is true that outsourcing is a contributor to our unemployment picture as is contract sourcing from overseas. I have spoken to a few folks that have come in from across the sea and they tell me they come for the opportunity, the experience and the money. With our dollar exchange, they may be making out quite well - I don't know.

I can only comment on the job market I deal with which is dismal. On a hiring scale - I rank low. In looking for work, I tend to shy away from large firms because I know I will be older than some of their mid-managment. Some managers are very uncomfortable with managing seniors. Some seniors find it difficult to work with new management styles and clash because they have the experience and know better. This I call the be subservient - do your job and go home and do something you enjoy. Very sad but I have a few family members who had this experience.

And the next reminds me of a time in NY when jobs on LI were scarce and the word was "be a computer programmer" - today, it is be an entrepreneur. Were we all cookie cutters, this may provide some answer... we aren't and the wheel continues to spin.

I wish I had a solution or someone would share one with me.

[Mage Bailey]

I can honestly say that retirement was heaven. Right now with two weeks to go before the baseball season opener, I'm doing PT, the pool, constant stretching, and as few pain pills as possible so I can make it back to work with all the other elders. All of whom, I note, take their Tylanol or Aleve with them.

In the service industries, I see elders where once there were only teenagers. I see retired military taking service jobs so they have enough to live on. I see active military working two jobs so they can live. Retired cops are the saddest.

[Pamela]

I'm living it too. I was pretty much forced to take a buyout after a 25-year career with the same company. They paid us a $200K lump sum retirement benefit. I used $60K of this, and most of my 401K before I was able to find another job.

I know I am fortunate to have found another job (it was a long miserable search and I took a 30% pay cut) and I'm lucky to have gotten a pension payout, but I'm only 58 and this money has to sit and grow many years before I can consider retiring. In today's market who knows how long that could be. I hang on every twist and turn of Wall Street as my future now hangs on it.

I have to hold on to my new job for as long as I can, no matter what. I don't like it and I dread going to work every single day. But my choices are long gone. This is it. This is how the American Dream is playing out for untold numbers of us.

[mary jamison]

A thought: consider relocating to Buffalo (my home town)- or Pittsburgh, or any of the rust belt cities experiencing a mass exodus of the young. Around here, they have to hire older people because there aren't enough young ones.

[Joe Wasylyk]

There are many alternatives to the Job Market for Retired Boomers. Maybe, try to forget about the corporate world and their labour problems and start planning your own creative retirement; in the way you always dreamed and desired it to be.

[florida frannie]

My husband and I are both IT professionals,managerial and technical. We were replaced by several more workers in India and it has been impossible for us to find new jobs since 2001. Our very comfortable life and our savings and 401Ks are long gone. "Luckily", I qualify for disability and have my SS and Medicare. My poor husband however, has no such benefits yet because he is only 60. He is trying to pick up consulting work, but the cost of traveling to the other side of the country and supporting himself for a couple of months before being paid is impossible. He knocks around and tries to find what work he can to help put food on the table.

[Georjina]

I made the same mistake as Kay and have spent the past 8 years 'running scared' because as an accountant, I figured the jobs would be there.

While that was good in theory, the reality is very different. AARP may theorize about how companies are 'retaining' older workers, the reality is India among other countries with a higher head count and lower wage base are where companies are 'retaining' workers.

Another comment was about entrepreneurs and creating the life you wanted before getting caught up in building a career. It's commendable to think that way, but not everyone wants to own a business and having a 'dream lifestyle' comes at a cost many of us can not afford today.

Some of us are too young to retire and too old for what the market wants, so what is our alternative except to start a business that puts food on the table.

I've been telling the folks on my blog, if you have a full time job now, start a part time something on the side right now. One hour a day, 7 days a week if need be because long term employment isn't a promise - it's a nice theory.