Older workers keeping young adults out of jobs

Reuters ^ | 4/7/10 | Lucia Mutikani

[Kartographer]

Young adults in the United States are being squeezed out of the labor force as older workers either delay retirement or seek jobs to rebuild nest eggs destroyed by the recession, a study showed on Wednesday.

The size of the labor force fell 6.3 percent for young workers, but increased 8.5 percent for workers 55 years and older between December 2007 and January 2010, according to the study by the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

[ReneeLynn]

Right. Target the older workers and ignore the fact that Obama has so screwed up the country and scared the private sector that there just aren’t enough jobs.

[cookiedough]

And then there’s the illegal alien problem. Get them out of here, and more jobs will be available.

[massgopguy]

In 1994 I got my mother a job at city hall working one day a week to get a property tax discount. When the program ended one year later they wanted her full time. She now works two day a week. She will be 77 in June. Dad works at the municipal parking lot three days a week. He’ll be 80 in December.

[wku man]

Sounds like young people need to 1) get a work ethic, 2) come to the shocking realization that the world doesn't revolve around them, 3) learn how to dress, speak, write and behave like an adult, and just for good measure 4) think twice about getting the fingertips-to-jawbone tattoos.

Older folks know all this already, and if I were in the market to hire people, I'd sure hire a senior over some GenX or Generation.com slacker.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[spectre]

You got that right.

[massgopguy]

In 1994 I got my mother a job at city hall working one day a week to get a property tax discount. When the program ended one year later they wanted her full time. She now works two day a week. She will be 77 in June. Dad works at the municipal parking lot three days a week. He’ll be 80 in December.

[Wings-n-Wind]

"Old age & treachery will whip youth, skill & cunning every time!"

---My dear old daddy.... Lord, rest his soul!

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

“At age 47...retirement at 67 is impossible.”

It’s not looking so great for me at the age of 42 either.

[Cheap_Hessian]

Absolutely, the minimum wage is a job killer. The government creates ceilings on profit and floors on expenses... how is this going to work out in the long run?

[BitWielder1]

A growing cadre of working oldsters are now needed to fund unemployment payments for youngsters.
See how well the recovery is going.

[FrankR]

"Older workers keeping young adults out of jobs

Wah, wah, wah..., all this whining is getting old. Did anyone stop and think that us "oldsters" were once young too, and we hand to wait our turn behind the older, more experienced workers too. We paid our dues.

Most employers had rather have older workers; they are more expereinced, dependable, emotionally mature, and have a much better attendence record than many of the youngsters.

There are those who are also whining about having to pay social security and medicare taxes now...well, so did we, but we paid them now for over 40 years, and like any annunity or insurance policy, it's time to reap the dividends.

The sad part is, most of the young adults who are doing all the bitching are the ones voting for these crooks in congress who are spending social security money as fast as they can collect it.

But, they are probably coming for us, as like most adolescents they think they don't need the old timers...but there are many cases where junior winds up moving back home to live in the basement while the old man pays his rent and groceries...but what if, the old man, was no longer, there?

Bitch now kiddies, but you'll miss us when we're gone...you can get our jobs, you just can't do the work.

[who knows what evil?]

Older workers make better employees...I’d list the reasons but I don’t want to fry the FR servers...

[dalereed]

Time for the young to smarten up so they are competative in the job market!

[nina0113]

I’m lumping it all in together. They just can’t write English, but that’s OKAY, because it means I’ll always have a job.

[clamper1797]

Businesses want older workers for their maturity experience and work ethic. Things that younger workers have not learned neither from work experience nor up-bringing

[B.O. Plenty]

Most of the businesses in the U.S. are there for(dare I say it)making money.....therefore, they want their employees to at least show up and know something.

You know something is up when Scrabble has to be "dumbed down" in order to survive......yeah, I heard it on TV this morning...Scrabble is too hard for most people, so it has to be "revised"....it is actually kind of shameful.....

[Persevero]

I understand your sympathy but some of those older folks may have retired, taking a pension, and just supplementing their income.

Some also may find retirement boring and decide to work part time just to have something to do.

[knittnmom]

Bingo. We’re not squeezing them out, we’re outperforming them. And the economy and current administration policies aren’t helping matters any.

[ronniesgal]

really! Should we all kill ourselves to make your life easier, weasel?
My husband would LOVE to retire to a part time job, but we have to put that off since we lost alot of our savings.

[montanajoe]

I wanted a part time job in 2007. Put in more than 100 applications, went to 20 interviews and finally got a job nobody else would not do..As soon as they saw my age it was a deal breaker. That company closed in Jan 2009 and no jobs for old or young since....