Old, Out of Work and Looking for a Job

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has issued a February 2014 issue brief, How Long Do Unemployed Older Worker Search for a Job?  The issue brief is based on a new study that “examines how long unemployed older workers search for a job and identifies the factors – health and demographics, financial resources, and labor market conditions – that could extend or cut short their job search.”  The brief looks at patterns in searching for a job and factors impacting the search. The brief concludes that the study leads to these observation:

older workers have little tolerance for the stressful task of looking for work. The great majority either find a job or stop searching within a year or less. Those who can afford a quicker exit – those who can fall back on Social Security benefits, financial assets, or employer pensions – stop searching even sooner. That local labor market conditions are not substantially associated with job search duration suggests that this impatience has little to do with the difficulty of finding work.

The future is less bright, with likely longer times to find a job, “Social Security benefits will replace a smaller share of pre-retirement earnings. Defined benefit pensions are all but extinct in the private sector, and 401(k)s … are less likely to support a quick labor force exit” but elder workers are likely going to be healthier, thus having the ability to do a wider variety of jobs.