AARP: Older Workers Say Economy Worse Than Last Year

WASHINGTON -- Older workers are gloomier about the economy now than they were last year.

Nearly two thirds of workers older than 50 first surveyed by AARP's Public Policy Institute in 2010 said things had gotten worse by the time the senior lobbying powerhouse followed up in August. Fewer than one in 10 said their view of the economy had improved. The rest said things had stayed the same.

Of the more than 5,000 people surveyed last year, 16.7 percent said they were jobless. Nearly the same percentage said they were jobless when AARP caught up with 1,300 people from the original sample this summer.

The official unemployment rate for workers older than 55 is 6.7 percent, lower than the overall rate of 9.1 percent. But Labor Department data show older folks who lose their jobs tend to stay unemployed longer. While the overall average duration of joblessness was 38.6 weeks as of last month, for the 55-plus crowd it was slightly over one year.

An analysis by the Congressional Research Service found that older jobless are more than twice as likely as their younger counterparts to remain unemployed for 99 weeks or longer. Dozens of out-of-work older workers have told HuffPost they blame age discrimination for their predicament.

Savings worries are widespread. Sixty-one percent said their savings balances had declined since the start of the recession in December 2007. When they were first surveyed in 2010, nearly a quarter of respondents said they'd already used up all their savings.

AARP initially thought people's economic outlooks might have improved. After all, the economy has seen several quarters of (admittedly weak) growth since the recession technically ended halfway though 2009.

"When the decision was made to do a follow-up survey, the economy appeared to have been improving to such an extent that recession experiences almost seemed like old news," an AARP summary reads. "By the time we returned to the field, however, there were fears that another recession might be in the offing; the unemployment rate -- while below what it had been a year ago -- was still above 9 percent; average duration of unemployment was on the rise; and the stock market was fluctuating wildly. Older Americans in August 2011 were not very optimistic."

Eighty percent said they fear another recession in the next year; 31 percent are "very worried" about another downturn.

Click HERE to download a PDF of the AARP Public Policy Institute's data.

Arthur Delaney is the author of "A People's History of the Great Recession," HuffPost's first e-book.

Comments

[Dirk Dachs]

11:03 PM on 11/01/2011

Two men in their 40's re-enter the workforce only to discover the pursuit more difficult than imagined. "The Unemployment Chronicles" -- a continuing series ... http://placeitonluckydan.com/2011/10/the-unemployment-chronicles/

[Kathleen Ann Boluch]

09:33 PM on 11/01/2011

Over 50? You have to create your own job, like I have.
Applying for positions is a waste of time, and humiliating.
Younger hiring managers and decision makers simply dismiss
50+ candidates as useless. Age discrimination is absolutely happening,
but it's so subtle and the circumstances are uniquely difficult to make a solid case.
However, it's rampant and disheartening.

[demilieu]

02:43 PM on 11/01/2011

Out of work more than 2-1/2 years, about to turn 52. I'm not happy about things, for sure. Yes, I have lost confidence things will turn around anytime soon. I never understood those who had 'given up' looking until maybe a few months ago, realizing there are a lot of unfilled jobs out there, but not for someone middle aged and out of a career that spanned almost 30 years if you include college and graduate school. There is a serious shortage of opportunity to meet the need in America. And I don't see any way the elected people in DC are going to work to fix this.

[PROGRESSISGOOD]

12:56 PM on 11/01/2011

The Republican Robber Barons and Stock Pushers have wiped out the life savings of many in this age group. It is too late to recover the lost savings, retirement accounts and home equity that was destroyed by these people. And now, they have the unmitigatd gall to push for cuts in Social Security and Medicare. These people have no heart, no soul. It is time to take the suffering to them.

[gfcarlton]

12:26 AM on 11/01/2011

This is evolution folks..the world has too many people and too few jobs. We baby boomers need to come to grips with reality and take our destiny in our own hands. The gov't can't do anything for us and anything they do for us is harmful to following generations. Every impact we have on the country and the world is a negative one (and has been for most of our lieftimes)...we have reached the upper limit. What can we do? Time to check out of society as we know it. Time to band together and care for each other in communes. It's for our survival. Anyone not able to see this is in denial. We need to organize ourselves just like we did in the 60s and start another social revolution. Otherwise, we are just sitting ducks without power. Collectively we can be empowered to demand that our tax dollars go for our greater good. Why sit around and wait. Let's plant a seed of revolution in the spring 2012. We're not going to take it anymore. We're going to check out now and live life our own way.

[Adartist777]

09:25 PM on 10/31/2011

I'm 57. Soon to be 58. I have applied to over 300 jobs over the past three years.

I was so good at my last job. I had passion and loyalty for my work. I had admiration from department managers. I saved the company a lot of money on their service contracts and did my work on time. I was also moving up in the company which is a good position to be in when you are a decade and a half from retirement. I had everything. A healthy 401k plan, plenty of money stashed away in my savings.

I was laid off and it was unexpected. In the past, it was easy to find a good job in a short amount of time. Interviews went smoothly. Being hired was easy because of my computer skills. Now it's over.

I'm presently living with my 81 year old father. He needs me. But this is the first time in my life that I've lost my independence. The 401k is gone. So are the savings. And I'm angry at our government for allowing this to happen. You would think they would let us take an early retirement. This would be the decent and moral thing to do.

So now, I'm supporting the OWS movement. Our young people will have to fight for their futures because we've been sold out by our politicians, all in the name of greed. I've had enough and will be joining them this spring.

[Rich Cash]

02:40 AM on 11/01/2011

Wow, my story mirrors yours. I'm 58 now. After retiring from the military, I got a job with a Fortune 50 company and after years of service and designing software programs that saved them (literally) millions of dollars, I was downsized. After almost a year of job searching, is took a job as car salesman. I talked the owner into starting an internet sales program and after designing the software and successfully implementing the program I was let go in favor of hs 23 year old granddaughter. Two years later I was still job searching when my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to leave her job as a flight attendant. I took a minimum wage job as a part time cashier at a drug store. Within two years, I was a salaried manager and my wife had been cured. Three years later, I was down-sized again along with 2500 other managers in my company. I've been unemployed for the past 15 months now, and I'm getting few responses to my job applications. When I do get the occasional interview, I'm usually followed by a 25 year old applicant. Who do you think gets the job? Anyway, fanned and faved, my friend!

[Dick Stone]

04:48 AM on 11/01/2011

Rich, I think that you are far too capable to be unemployed, and I mean that as a complement. You are obviously very bright, and have very valuable work and life experience. I don't know where you live, but if it was in my area of DFW, I would bet I can get someone like you a job. I currently have 33 employees, and can not hire another until the dilemna of the budget, taxes and the new healthcare laws settle out, but I could find a place for a smart and industrious person.

I know things are rough in the job market, and it is my opinion that our current President has done a great deal to create that bad economic situation.

I don't know where you live or what the economy is like, but always consider starting a part time business providing a service that people need. I learned early in life if you can find a need and fill it you will always eat, and believe me I have done everything from chopping cotton, breaking horses, painting houses, washing cars, and the list goes on. .

I hate to see a smart and very capable person like you especially as young as you are struggling to find the right spot. I wish you all of the best and hope you find a job or a situation that appreciates you.

[serene1234]

12:23 PM on 11/01/2011

You have had more success than I have had, but the turbulence is similar. It seemed that the harder I tried to please an employer the more likely it would be that I would be downsized. That which was have to offer is "caputured" when we finish a project and - instead of being rewarded - we are flung out the door. Some of my tasks involved cleaning up accounting/recordkeeping nightmares. As soon as the new system was in place, I was let go and a younger person took over to run the system I had just built. I went back to doing things I was good at when I was young, but I can't believe I'm working on becoming an athlete at this age. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[serene1234]

12:19 PM on 11/01/2011

I can sympathize with you. The statistics aren't reporting the truth about what is happening to people out there. Thank you for sharing, and I hope things turn around for you soon. :)

[nothingchanges]

09:02 PM on 10/31/2011

One of the disadvantages of being elderly is that your body is more fragile, and, once injured, takes longer to heal.

I suppose the same could be said about our psyche's.

Lot easier to bounce back, when someone yanks the rug out from under you at 20, then it is at 55.

Kinda hard to "pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again" when you have multiple broken bones and contusions from the "fall".

[nypapajoe]

07:57 PM on 10/31/2011

Now they know what it feels like to be victimized by the Republican Baggers they voted for! Everybody had an idea that we were going to get scammed but this is outrageous!

[MiddleMolly]

09:53 PM on 10/31/2011

Are you assuming that people who are over 50 voted for the Tbags? I'm sure that some did, but why would you assume that people who are older and suffering in this economy would flock to the Repubs?

[aaaarrrggg]

11:34 AM on 11/01/2011

50+/AARP was the tbaggers target audience. Don't cut SS or Medicare, we are not republicans, just say no to any spending that is not SS or Medicare. Just say no.

I'm sure large numbers of 50+ were tricked in inot believing the tbagger rhetoric, present company excluded, of course.

[Pamela Firebaugh]

10:29 PM on 10/31/2011

That is BS. I did not vote for any of those jerks.

[PROGRESSISGOOD]

12:59 PM on 11/01/2011

Our generation, the baby boomers, is one of the most selfish, uncaring, lacking in all compassion for others generation in the history of mankind. There are just too many spoiled brats who only care about themselves. Those are the people in our generation supporting the tea baggers and right wing conservatives.

Sorry to say that any progress in social and economic justice will probably have to wait until our generation dies off.

[LI2USsomemore]

06:02 PM on 10/31/2011

I don't know why the young fret so. They'll always have employment under a Republican rule. Unfortunately, it entails wearing a uniform and foreign travel.

85% of the jobs created under Bush were MIC related.

[MiddleMolly]

09:53 PM on 10/31/2011

Could be, but where did you get that 85% figure?

[Georgia Yankee]

10:35 PM on 10/31/2011

I'd say 85% should do just that and cut the umbilical cord from Mommy. Maybe they'll even learn a high tech trade if they got any semblance of a brain.

[aaaarrrggg]

11:34 AM on 11/01/2011

Lots of my neices and nephews were considering it, but in the end they just didn't want to die.

[LI2USsomemore]

05:58 PM on 10/31/2011

When I weighed my options to either work another three years in part-time positions or take early retirement, I chose the latter. Arithmetically it didn't work out to do otherwise. When you're in that 50-60 year old range, it is a real uphill battle, competing with the younger workforce. Nevermind the education and years of experience. Part-time work just doesn't cut it.

[Pam512]

06:14 PM on 10/31/2011

I'm 58 years old, and I'm not sure who I'm competing against for jobs. Two years and only one call. I would probably accept a part-time job if somebody offered me one. Oh well, just 3-1/2 till I can get social security.

[MiddleMolly]

09:55 PM on 10/31/2011

Pam, I know what you mean. I just turned 60 and I'm actually envious of people a bit older for the first time in my adult life... I'm counting the months until I turn 62. And working my tail off on two mini-businesses, hoping one or the other will "hit".

[MiddleMolly]

09:54 PM on 10/31/2011

You are fortunate that you had enough money and savings to tide you over for the duration. Many of us in our 50's and 60's are not in that position.

[Bigwave48]

05:56 PM on 10/31/2011

The AARP commercial says 50,000,000 million voters , that are senior. Thats a lot. It could
make a big difference in who gets elected. I'm a senior, i'm voting for the guy, who is looking
out for me. No one else is.

[aaaarrrggg]

11:39 AM on 11/01/2011

That sounds EXACTLY like the comment I just made about the tbaggers. That is the message I recieved from tbagger rallies and commercials, no cuts to SS or Medicare, cut everything else.

Of course, I don't believe that what they are really about, but thats how they sell themselves.

[GCurry]

05:39 PM on 10/31/2011

It's not just about the unemployment rate. That doesn't even count those who've stopped looking. These days, it's also easy to be employed and not be able to make ends meet. So collections of poor people will have to gather together in a household and try to collectively make ends meet. That is getting very difficult also, as incomes go down, jobs disappear, and vital costs go up. Discretionary household income, which is what REALLY matters in this economy, is going negative. Things are not crazy yet, but soon .....

[MiddleMolly]

09:57 PM on 10/31/2011

Right... 14,000,000 officially unemployed; another 16,000,000 who either "want a job" but haven't looked lately or are working part-time and want full-time work.

[aaaarrrggg]

11:44 AM on 11/01/2011

I just joined the officially 'stopped looking' crowd because my benifits ran out. Here in Arizona we are doing so well that the state government has cut off extended benefits, so I never made it to being a '99er', but I'm classified the same;

Unemployed, but officially not counted as unemployed.

I'm sure there are millions out there in the same predicament. I also believe that is why the unemployment rate is coming down, not because hiring is up, but because people are being 'expired' and no longer counted.

[chaucer1]

04:53 PM on 10/31/2011

Wait until they hear that their SS and Medicare have been axed; then they'll be really upset.

[MiddleMolly]

09:58 PM on 10/31/2011

It is very scary to contemplate what Congress is going to do to seniors and near-seniors. I don't know why more oldsters and near-oldsters aren't up in arms.

[Peanut Santiago]

03:19 AM on 11/01/2011

They probably will be up in arms if SS, etc. are cut.....once something "official" happens.

Maybe some people don't think "they" (the politicians) will really do much.

However, once something is a done deal.....I have a feeling the angry seniors will come out of the woodwork.

[spytheweb]

04:52 PM on 10/31/2011

In the past our economy recovered, but not this time. Never has there been a time when so many US jobs were exported. Never before was there a time when the government was fighting to keep illegal cheap labor in the country and allowing them to work. Even is employment numbers come back those jobs will play less with less benefits if any at all. Just remember big business and the rich have never been richer and you think that they're going to give that up so you can have a decent job?

[LI2USsomemore]

05:54 PM on 10/31/2011

http://noliesradio.org/archives/30124

This gets right to the bones of the matter. Professor Richard Wolff lays it right out there as it concerns wages and the future of American capitalism.

[XzibitX]

04:41 PM on 10/31/2011

I point at the GOP. I know there are corporate Dems that help them. But it's obvious the GOP is aggressively callous when it comes to cutting off life support for millions of Americans. They think ALL MONEY IS THEIR MONEY. Whether you've paid into Social Security and Medicare for decades, they deem that as THEIR MONEY, not yours. So they seek to cut your fingers off so you can't touch it. And they're d3@dly serious about achieving those objectives.

No jobs, no health care, no homes, no hope. Then they expect the rest of you to subsidize their lavish lifestyles by taxing you severely, while they hide out in their loopholes and play insider trading, stock buy back bingo on Wall Street, making money out of thin air.

Want to get your money back? Tax every Wall Street transaction. It's called the Securities Turnover Excise Tax. Slap a tax on every transaction and collect $300, $400 billion a year in revenue and they won't even feel it. Bump that up to $500 billion a year and they still will barely feel it. But that won't happen because it's not revenue that is at the heart of their madness.

They don't want to look at us. They don't want us languishing in shanty towns. I honestly think they want you to take an early d!rt nap. Pessimistic? No. Realistic.

[Olderandwiser55]

05:06 PM on 10/31/2011

I blame the GOP as well...and those that voted GOP. Sure, Dems are far from perfect. But there has never been a Dem candidate that would have not been better for the people.

If we do want a better life for our kids and grandkids, we better Occupy the Voting Booths.

The transactions tax I like as well...but republicans won't pass it.

[MiddleMolly]

09:59 PM on 10/31/2011

I agree. The Dems are workable. The GOP, not. We've got to get the GOP out of Congress; and we have to make GOP chicanery more widely known. These are not good people.