Old Workers Hit New Record High As Jobs For Key 25-54 Age Group Slide By 142K

Zero Hedge ^ | 08/04/2014 | Tyler Durden

[SeekAndFind]

Another month, another case where the primary age group of the US work force, those aged 25-54, gets shafted.

According to the BLS' household survey, while overall July jobs rose, if modestly less than the 209K revealed by the establishment survey, there was no joy for those aged 25-54: historically the most important and highest earning age group (in case anyone is wondering where all that missing average hourly earnings growth is) within the US labor force. As the chart below shows, while all other age groups posted a jobs uptick, it was those 25-54 that saw a 142K jobs decline in the past month.

 

And while total jobs may have recovered their combined losses since the start of the Second Great Depression in December 2007, it is cold comfort for the 25-54 age group, which still has some 2.5 million job gains to go before it recovers all losses.

 

The biggest winner? Old workers, those aged 55 and over as can be seen in the chart below.

 

And the following chart too, which shows that at 32.5 million, America has never had more workers aged 55 and over.

 

But please don't blame the old workers: they are merely doing whatever they can to survive in a day and age in which the Chairsatan(ette) has made the lifetime product of their labor, their savings, worthless thanks to ZIRP and soon, NIRP.

If that means no jobs for other age groups, then please direct your complaints to the Marriner Eccles building.

[Gen.Blather]

The other day in Publix I saw to “bag boys” who were at least in their late 70’s. One looked like every step was painful. I’m certain they didn’t take those jobs because they wanted to work. Thank you Barak Obama and Saul Alinsky. (Oh, and Cloward and Piven.) I certainly hope there is a God and an afterlife. You deserve what you’ll get. (Too bad that’s the only punishment. I’d like to see a long prison sentence before he arrives.0

[TwelveOfTwenty]

But please don't blame the old workers: they are merely doing whatever they can to survive in a day and age in which the Chairsatan(ette) has made the lifetime product of their labor, their savings, worthless thanks to ZIRP and soon, NIRP.

Does this mean the drop in the labor participation rate is NOT due to older workers leaving the workforce?

[2ndDivisionVet]

Not here:

Indeed
http://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=&l=76208

[Pearls Before Swine]

Something about “prying my greeter job from my cold dead hands” seems to be part of the Obama jobs boom.

[grania]

For a company that has to provide medical care, it’s a real plus to have workers who are already covered by Medicare. No need to give them benefits. Not much demand for living wages or advancement. Not going to leave for the job of a lifetime. No paid leave for child care. etc

[oldbrowser]

The inflation that is reported not to be happening is forcing retired folks to get back into the labor force.
Delivering pizza, flipping hamburgers, whatever you can find to supplement your SS.

[wbarmy]

Really think that older workers are seen as more dependable and stable than a lot of the younger workers I see.

[RegulatorCountry]

... show up on time, rarely miss work without a good reason and notification beforehand, excellent work ethic, grateful for the work, little desire to complain and gossip. The opposite of most younger entry level employees, in other words.

[Gen.Blather]

I’m not certain what your message was intended to convey. Is it that there are lots of jobs? I’m friends with a man who runs a head hunting firm. I called him on a posting and he told me that he just ran them to get resumes. He didn’t really have any openings. I learned how to spot them. You go to indeed and when you find that Acme or Zen Head Hunters runs the same ads every two or three weeks, they’re not real. When they see a client they have to say, “I have x resumes that are within the last three weeks, so I can definitely fill your position.” At one point almost every professional position within 200 miles of my location was one of these multiple postings. In other words, although there appears to be lots and lots of jobs there aren’t.

[2ndDivisionVet]

We can’t fill many of the jobs here. You can, of course, believe whatever you wish. I’ve been a recruiter and career counselor since before the personal computer.

[cripplecreek]

Old farts.

We suck less.

[fwdude]

Old workers. The things they know!

[RegulatorCountry]

Depends entirely upon where you are. It was horrible here, 2008 was a scary collapse, official UE pushing 15% but now manufacturing on-shoring continues to build, we’re down below 8% and declining. Certain types of jobs are just tough to fill. Add in job descriptions written for the perfect candidate that does not exist and wouldn’t accept the salary offered if he or she did, and positions are going wanting.

[Pollster1]

In simple terms: Older people can’t retire, and younger people can’t get hired. That’s the “recovery” that led to Obama’s Hail Mary pass to immigration, minimum wage, war on women, and whatever else liberals are throwing out there to see what sticks.

[Night Hides Not]

The other day in Publix I saw to “bag boys” who were at least in their late 70’s.

I've always joked that a big part of my retirement plan was working a few days a week at Luby's, Furrs, etc. Make a few bucks and get a free meal while I'm at it.

Now that I'm 60, my plan's shifted a bit: work part-time somewhere in the wine industry, an interest I've picked up in the past year. At least I've got a couple of years to synthesize my objectives, while enjoying many glasses of excellent wine.

[Gen.Blather]

“We can’t fill many of the jobs here. You can, of course, believe whatever you wish. I’ve been a recruiter and career counselor since before the personal computer.”

There are lots of jobs. I just turned down an opportunity to work in the US capital building in DC. For what they wanted to pay it wasn’t worth moving hundreds of miles away, facing a daunting commute in a location I despise. Let’s not forget the cost of housing and not knowing a soul. It turns out that for what they wanted to pay I would not be putting a penny away. That’s the problem, really. Once you figure in the unpaid move and the commute and the taxes you’re better off doing something else. I got Obama’d out of my career, which was managing large military projects. The entire industry is gone for 200 miles around me. I’m now buying and re-furbing rental property.

I know many people from my former companies who have very specialized skills that will not be easily replaced when we suddenly find our weapons and systems are obsolete and must be replaced, as happens every time a Democrat leaves office. None of us will be going back to our former industries as we’ll have found other things to do. That will increase the learning curve and the expense of the next generation weapons.

[Night Hides Not]

In simple terms: Older people can’t retire, and younger people can’t get hired.

Just wait until forced reductions come to SS benefits.

[Hugin]

Mrs. Hugin is a store manager for a retail chain. Given the very limited labor budget she is allowed, and her work ethic, she ends up working twice as hard as any of her employees, despite being over 55. Almost all of her employees are either under 25 or over 55. Most of those in between who apply want (or need) to make a lot more than she can pay them. Even if they take the job, they keep looking and quit as soon as they find something else, and don’t really want to do any hard physical work. The young kids phone in “sick” a lot, and stop to text and play with their phones when nobody is watching. The older workers are dependable. They mostly can’t work as fast as she needs them to, but they have good attitudes, and at least they are there.

[TADSLOS]

For a company that has to provide medical care, it’s a real plus to have workers who are already covered by Medicare. No need to give them benefits. Not much demand for living wages or advancement. Not going to leave for the job of a lifetime. No paid leave for child care. etc

This. Not to mention an age demographic that is generally more reliable in terms of work ethic and prefers lower compensation with fewer work hours to avoid the full scale income tax rate on social security payments.