You are correct. A large number of our unemployed are over fifty. They can't afford to retire and for many of them, it's unlikely they'll ever be in demand by employers. They're simply unemployable. Nobody wants them.
Many of the problems facing our country are demographics, --too many old people, and I'm not sure politicians from either side will be able to come up with solutions to the impending demographic disaster that awaits.
I've seen what this looks like from my travels to Ukraine and it isn't pretty. Elderly babushkas, once proud women who survived communism and a bloody world war, reduced to begging for spare change outside of grocery stores just to survive. It was a sad sight to see and it's coming here.
I work at a large software company in Redmond, WA where we have 4 - 5 thousand job openings at any given time. Problem is we can’t find the people with the experience, skills and education needed to fill them.