Unemployment Among Americans 65 or Older Surges, Highest Since Great Depression

nytimes.com:

It is well known that during the nation's gale-force recession, many older Americans who dreamed of retirement continued to work, often because their 401(k)'s had plunged in value.

In fact, there are more Americans 65 and older in the job market today than at any time in history, 6.6 million, compared with 4.1 million in 2001.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[SangZe]

Thhis is news? Obama made it clear in his campaign that senior citizens were not important.

[investingonline]

where are the unemployment benefits we need?

he's right: http://finnanceopinionss.blogspot.com

./

[CapitolBarrister]

President Obama, thanks for continuing the Bush presidency. Tens of millions of ordinary Americans that you couldn't care less about are suffering more now than at any time in our history. Keep the change.

[anticapitalist1983]

put these posters up where you live, work, etc.... to show your disgust with this situation!

"wall street is at war with america"
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21140663/wallst

"corporate lobbyists are at war with america"
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21261649/Corporate-Lobbyists-Are-At-War-With-America

PEOPLE OVER PROFIT!
STOP GREED!
These banks are robbing us of our right to retire, and our children's right to a better future.

[katieandtom]

doesnt surprise me at all. isnt unemployment the highest in every age group since the depression?

anyone who retires now or chooses early retirement is loco. there is no end in sight at this time. home values and property/investment values have plummeted and we dont know when the will come up and how far they will come up. now is the time to hang onto your job and be grateful that you have one.

for those who are unemployed, sit tight and dont spend.

[mogens]

In the eighties we had high unemployment in Denmark. Then we made it possible for people to retire at 60 with a pre-pension, that today is about 35.000 USD a year. That made room for younger people to get jobs. The average retirement age here is 62-63. The system is so, that you can keep working as long as you like, but you don't have to.
If your pension is low, there are lot of support, and health care is free for all.
We also have a lot of pensionist apartments, when your house gets too big for you.
I know some pensioners living in my neighbourhood.
None of them works, but they makes a lot of different activities, so you don't need to work to get social contact.

[mazaza]

Ok. But you live in a civilized society. Hum... sorry, a socialized, facist, something or other. You have not realized that government is bad, bad, bad. Government cannot run any program, stifles initiative, etc. You don't know what a truly free market is. You are not a "land of freedom", they are.
You will come to your senses, you, poor innocent thing.
Wink, wink, wink.

[sc300nc]

Welcome to ObamaLand, enjoy your stay.

[JessWonderin]

I guess the last EIGHT YEARS didn't exist??????

[TheSheeple]

How dare you sir for putting this back at BO. He was just elected $1,375,000,000,000 ago. As BO said, $400,000,000,000 deficits are... "Unsustainable". hahah

[PragmaticStatistic]

Now that I am unemployed and age 60, it appears to me that we are stuck in a dammed if we do / dammed if we do not scenario. On one hand, companies cannot afford to employ those over 50 because of the high cost of health care. On the other hand, if we do not employ those over 50, they will waste away on the edge of poverty, increase the cost of government, overburden our social services, and substantially reduce the nation’s purchasing power. Considering the inability of the smaller X and Y generations to replace the purchasing power of the larger baby boomer generation until the year 2025 or later, and their inability to fund the social services for such a vast number of unemployed baby boomers, it would seem logical to employ baby boomers for as long as they are able to work. Unless we reduce the cost of health care down to a cost those over 50 can afford, they will remain unemployed, uninsured and on the edge of poverty.

The end-result is up to the X and Y generations. They can either hinder their own growth for the next twenty years by letting their elders live in poverty, or they can help themselves prosper by ensuring that their elders survive, are able to pay for themselves and continue to help drive the economy, rather than be a burden to the economy.

[katieandtom]

agree pragmatic. hope you are okay.

[Harrier]

It's also worse among 50 and above. Corporations have deliverable paid of lobbyists off to lower the age of age discrimination to 40. That way they can fire 50 and above while keeping the 40-50 group and still remain the age group targets

[You and Eye]

I would like to ask all my fellow citizens. How long a repression until it is formally called a depression.
Believe me I am not happy nor comfortable posting this. God help American

[katieandtom]

well, i can tell you when we lose everything we have, i know ill call it a depression.

[You and Eye]

You know the more mature employee has so much offer. If todays market cannot find itself open to commen standards; then I am sure it will cave within it's own stiff regulatory demands.

[hellboundtrain]

Aren't the unemployment levels for ALL age-groups the highest since the great depression? It would seem so.

[Winston120]

Do you know why Obama speaks so in frequently about employment, or lack thereof? Here is why:

1) It is embarrassing to him personally; he really has nothing of substance to say about it.
2) He views unemployment as a side issue, totally separate from his social agenda.
3) He reckons unemployment and foreclosures will sort themselves out eventually; why spend time on issues he really has no interest in?
4) He and his wife believe America has to suffer greatly. America has to get worse before it can get better.
5) Its an issue he believes he can hang on Bush and the Republicans. Yo, I just got here.

[sc300nc]

Obama's campaign slogan for 2012.

Don't blame me, it was Bush's fault.

[katieandtom]

i so totally agree with you winson - fanned x 1000,

im really getting pi ss ed off at him not really working the economy. forget healthcare!!!! economy first and then healthcare. if he would do that, he would be the hero.

i know it sounds like conspiracy theory, but its like he wants the "haves" to lose everything, then everyone is equalized. his own form of "spread the wealth" like he promised in his campaign. if no one has anything we are all equal. then he can rebuild and favor whomever he pleases. and it "aint" gonna be me, i can tell you that.

economy FIRST!!!!!!

[CapitolBarrister]

Amen Winston!

[themodernleader]

Our government has been hyjacked by half-baked Intellectuals (with a Capitol I) who see the Americans people as clay to be molded and fitted into procrustean beds of unexamined theoretical constructs backed by paper money and New York banksters.
Meanwhile, more Americans are laid off daily as our bankrupt financial system is worthless and our economic system is at the mercy of international mercantelism and predation. Our leaders have not even acknowledge the problem while our debt is one and half trillions for one 12 month period. Such a continued policy of loss with no gain won't sustain this system much longer. Is this but a bad dream? Americans are too wise to place themselves at the mercy of the nature of strangers.

[notfoolinganyone]

the democrats just raised minimum wage....get used to it.......teens are at 20%....and blacks are at 48% unemployment.....you people gotta understand ...that liberal policy makes everyone LESS WEALTHY

[Hnorc]

Right, and you think this is all because the minimum wage was raised? BTW, your numbers for unemployed are wrong.

[bluevase]

Countries with high minimum wages -- like Germany -- are doing much better than USA. Wage slavery should be a dead issue.

[JessWonderin]

so then PLEASE explain why under Bush, when repubiCONS kept min wage DOWN . . . we LOST JOBS????????

check some facts, THEN do your Beck/Rush rant . . . . .