Unemployment Over 55 Is Worse Than The US Average
Have You Hit The Gray Wall?
An AARP analysis demonstrated that unemployment for Americans who are 55 and older rose over 300 percent in the last decade. While many workers in the US are struggling with a tight job market, the situation has been even worse for older workers. And many of these workers are part of the famous Sandwich Generation, meaning that they are still responsible for kids while helping to care for elderly parents. This puts an additional strain on time and resources.
Age Discrimination In The Workplace
According the the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), age discrimination is on the rise too. The number of cases that have been filed in the last two fiscal years has been the highest on record, and may be one factor which contributes to these high unemployment rates.
Group Health Inurance Rates With Older Workers
Group health insurance can contribute to this. Even though group insurers must accept everybody in the group, they can base their rates off of the company census. It is much cheaper to cover a group of 30 year olds than a group of 50 year olds. Employers know this is true, and they probably have it in mind when they interview. It is not legal to discriminate this way, but when small business owners are under lots of pressure, it happens.
Is 55 Too Old?
I think younger employers also have some notions that older people will not be trained in the latest technology, or will not be willing to keep up in a fast moving business environment. Instead of trying to judge applicants on individual merit, they may have already decide that anybody over 50 – 55 is just too old for their company.
Have You Hit The Gray Wall?
There is even a new term for this. It is called the “Gray Wall“. Have you been affected by the Gray Wall in your job search? Today, we are forced to be so politically correct. It is not ok to disparage people because of their gender, race, or sexual orientation. But it seems as if it is still ok to disparage the mature!
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Related articles:
I’m 50 and hit the gray wall at 35. Age discrimination is rampant in California.
Wow, 35 seems kind of young, but I guess California has a culture of youth.
[...] unemployment rate for Americans over 50 has more than tripled during the Great Recession, leading some analysts to define the ‘grey wall’ or ‘grey ceiling’ stopping opportunities for [...]