AARP Reports on the Struggle to Overcome Unemployment for Older Job Seekers

The AARP Public Policy Institute has recently published an Insight Report (March 2015) on older workers and unemployment following the recent economic crisis.  The report draws upon surveys of persons aged 45 to 70 affected by unemployment during the last 5 years.  The primary focus of the analysis is on “reemployment,” including what strategies were used in successful efforts to find jobs. 

Lots of interesting information here.  Even though the rate of unemployment is lower for older workers, those losing their jobs later in life stayed unemployed longer than younger job seekers, and their recovery jobs reportedly paid less.  Some of the findings, however, are of equal relevance to younger job seekers.  One set of responses was especially sobering, on a question about possible working life regrets:  

“When asked whether there was anything they wished they had done differently over their working lives or careers to better position themselves for dealing with unemployment, 52 percent said ‘yes.’ The most common answer —65 percent — was a wish that they had saved more money. Also of note, 48 percent wished they had gone back to school to complete or get another degree, and 38 percent wished they had chosen a different field. The unemployed and the long–term unemployed were more likely than the other groups to wish they had chosen a different field. Those who elected that regret also tended to be younger (56 percent were ages 45 to 54).”

Many thanks to Professor Naomi Cahn at George Washington Law for alerting me to this report, and sending a link to related Wonk Blog coverage of the study from the Washington Post  — lots of well-explained graphs from an oral presentation that accompanied the launch of AARP’s written report.