A pretty dismal headline for a Monday morning, you may think. But a reality check can help us all,and can provide a ‘problem shared ‘ experience. Today’s news theme,as it happens, follows my previous post- 3 myths about building a career after 50 – and covers a situation many currently face as a result of recession,or other reason for economic hardship. Today’s report is from the NewYork Times:
For the Unemployed Over 50, Fears of Never Working AgainVASHON ISLAND, Wash. — ” Patricia Reid is not in her 70s, an age when many Americans continue to work. She is not even in her 60s. She is just 57.
But four years after losing her job she cannot, in her darkest moments, escape a nagging thought: she may never work again.
College educated, with a degree in business administration, she is experienced, having worked for two decades as an internal auditor and analyst at Boeing before losing that job.”
“Of the 14.9 million unemployed, more than 2.2 million are 55 or older. Nearly half of them have been unemployed six months or longer, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate in the group — 7.3 percent — is at a record, more than double what it was at the beginning of the latest recession. ”
To read more of Patricia Reid’s story from the New York Times go to : For the Unemployed Over 50