Research FInds 55 Plus Workers Remain Unemployed Longer than Younger Workers

New research from Boston College’s Sloan Center on Aging & Work and the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University shows that older job seekers often face daunting challenges in finding employment compared to younger workers. Specifically, according to "The “New Unemployables” -- Older Job Seekers Struggle to Find Work During the Great Recession", co-authored by Maria Heidkamp, Carl Van Horn and Nicole Corre, among job seekers unemployed during the recent recession, adults aged 55+ are finding it increasingly difficult to land a job and are more likely to remain out of work longer than younger job seekers.

Among other findings:

• 84% of older workers followed who were unemployed in August 2009 were still unemployed in March 2010, and 67% of older job seekers included in the survey reported looking for work longer than a year;
  
• 12% of the older workers surveyed had taken new education or training courses in the past year, compared to 20% of younger job seekers;
  
• 13% of older job seekers had used online social networking sites, compared to 28% of younger job seekers;
  
• 64% of older job seekers rated the job search tools they were using as not helpful, compared to 49% of younger job seekers.

Sources Sloan Center on Aging & Work News (November 16, 2010); New York Times Economix Blog "Older Job-Seekers More Willing to Take a Pay Cut" (November 17, 2010)