“Linda Hall of Spokane, Wash. has worked hard all her life but hasn’t earned any respect from the labor market. Laid off for the first time at age 62, Hall has no health insurance, not enough savings for retirement and almost no chance of getting hired again.
“A year ago I was absolutely certain that I had job security,” Hall said. “Change is a part of life. But, truthfully, until a few weeks before [getting laid off], I just didn’t see it coming and couldn’t imagine such a thing happening.”
Like many older workers, Hall is confronting America’s new economic reality.
“If you worked hard, chances are you’d have a job for life, with a decent paycheck and good benefits and the occasional promotion,” President Barack Obama lamented in his 2011 State of the Union Address. “That world has changed.”
Baby Boomers like Hall are more likely than previous generations to keep working, or at least looking for work, as they get older. Since hitting a low of 29 percent in the 1990s, the labor force participation rate for older workers (those who are 55 and up) has risen to 40 percent today. The increase is partly due to employers offering stingier retirement plans than they once did….”
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this is a sad part of an aging population. but companies can not have more workers in retirement, than working. look at gm and the post office. we r living longer, adjustments have to be made.