The study “found that 28 percent of stable, longtime employees sustain at least one damaging layoff by their employers between turning 50 and leaving work for retirement.” Another 13 percent retired under conditions that suggest that they were pressured or forced to retire, and another 15 percent left after pay or treatment on the job deteriorated. (Yes, that adds up to 56 percent.)
Note that they “considered only separations that result in at least six months of unemployment or at least a 50 percent drop in earnings from pre-separation levels.”
Absolutely. This was even more of a fear/issue/concern/problem/fact during the very long recession we just endured. Women are even more vulnerable at this late stage of their careers. Employees over 50 tend to be expensive and for those in the private sector, without the protection of a union or tenure, it can be a dangerous time.
I think that everyone who isn’t a “boss” is vulnerable to job loss these days. I’m over 50 but so are many of the supervisors, and they hold a lot more power than I do. What stands out to me is the effect of bad matches between bosses and their underlings. Regular employees with some prospects will quit to get away from a supervisor who isn’t a good fit; regular employees without good and immediate prospects will get fired by the supervisor when there isn’t a good fit.
It is more likely bosses will be fired before workers, bosses are overhead and you need workers to get actual work done. As you move up there are just fewer jobs available, kind of like a pyramid.
What it means is that people entering the workforce now in the 20s should consider making a financial plan aimed at either:
A. Being able to retire (i.e. join the capitalist class) at age 50 or earlier.
B. Being able to continue living after age 50 on an income half of the expected level while still making progress toward being able to retire at the intended age of retirement.
All this is true, and I myself have been the victim of age discrimination. However, on my 70th birthday just a few weeks ago, I was offered a job. I could have taken it as “permanent” and full-time but I told them I don’t want to do that, so I’m interim and part-time until they find somebody else. I was highly amused, and proud, that I got a job when I was 70!!
The average age of people in the office I’m in is 33.
I’m an independent contractor, and my phone literally stopped ringing from clients when I was contract hunting the year I turned 50. I revised my resume to remove all trace of age (college graduation year, etc), changed the description to show “examples of engagement experience” instead of a full resume, took some work off and instead of dates showed the length of the engagement. And I loaded a photo to Linked in taken in my early 40s in an outdoorsy/sort of athletic setting (okay in my line of work).
Boom. Phone starts ringing again. If I can get the interview, I get the offer about 75% of the time. That still seems to be true at 56, It is pretty clear to me that ageism hits hard around 50.
I watch a new, younger manager at my current client discount the strongest contributor in my department now, a woman in her early 60s. It makes me angry to watch — the new manager is pretty clueless, and could learn a lot from this woman.
I was downsized at 47 and was lucky to find a comparable job, at 30% less salary, within 2 months. I am soon to be 60 and hope to stay at my present job till retirement. I am the 3rd youngest of the 4 women in my department (including the boss). Fortunately, the company I am with values experience. A woman under 40 is the only professional hire my boss has made in my tenure of someone under 40. There are a couple of men in my department who are close to 70, if not over. This doesn’t apply to support staff where younger people are hired.
I wish it was that simple. Owners don’t have security anymore than the workers. Plus they have the “houses” on the line. They may be the last one off the sinking ship, but if the customers stop coming, the owner is sol as well.
It’s something we were warned of, when we were younger. Not a surprise. For many of us, it does factor in our advice to our girls. No surprise.
Not a lot has truly changed in our career lifetimes. More top execs are women, more older actresses employed. But still residual issues. When I was my daughters’ age, my mother warned me I’d be lucky if things improved in my granddaughters’ era.
50 is a tough age. You become very expensive, not only salary but health insurance etc. But here’s the thing. Employers don’t look at age to make decisions. They look at value added. Are the getting the same value from the 50 year old as they get from the 30 year old? Many times the question is no. Many times the 50 year old is doing just enough to get by but is not learning new things as the working world changes faster and faster.
I just hired a mid-50s guy to replace a mid-50s guy. I am getting the maximum value from the new guy that I didn’t get from the other one. Why? Because the new guy is up on all the latest technology in our industry. Has a bunch of ideas and a better overall knowledge of what and how to do things. The other guy was just kind of there.
So if you are older, take a self inventory. They can’t teach experience – you got that. How do you adapt that experience to today? That is the key. Make sure you are up on the latest and greatest, have the enthusiasm of a 30 year old, and add value to your organization.
In the tech world, 50+ people often get caught by a lack of current technical skills that one can fall back on. Not only that, so many companies rely on short term contractors nowadays as well. Always keep your resume ready, keep your skills current, and keep your options open.
I was in a situation where I knew my company was shutting down, stayed on for almost 2 years after the announcement, and still wasn’t able to find a suitable position until 6 months after the company finally shuttered its doors.
