Unemployed at 62, his plight may be a sign of the times (Barf alert!)

bostonherald ^ | 3-11-03 | Margery Eagan

[Jimmyclyde]

Unemployed at 62, his plight may be a sign of the times

by Margery Eagan Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Here in the living room of what feels like a cozy English country cottage - china-blue walls, hand-painted antique chairs, latticed windows and fine woods - it's hard to believe the once-comfortable occupants are down to their last $2,500.

Not enough to pay their $2,000 monthly rent and $1,200 health insurance, never mind food or heat or gas.

But that's the very scary story of North Easton couple Dick Wilcox, 62, and his wife, Michele, 56. Dick was laid off from his $65,000, mid-level insurance company job a year ago. He cannot afford to retire.

And as a nation obsesses over war, its politicians seeming to forget the crushing effects of a jittery economy, Dick Wilcox has joined the unenviable ranks of older, unemployed, white-collar workers who can't find another decent job.

``It's like all it takes,'' Dick Wilcox said yesterday, ``is one crack in the system and you can go from having a really good lifestyle to being literally homeless.''

To prevent that is why he's spent three months now, morning after frigid morning, at busy Canton intersections. He wears fat mittens and a hooded parka over a neat suit and tie. And like an upscale version of your average street corner beggar, lifelong, middle-class taxpayer Dick Wilcox stands with a mix of humiliation, desperation and defiance behind the 4-by-6-foot plywood sign he made in his basement. And he begs, too.

``I NEED A JOB. 508-238-3226.'' That's what his sign reads in big black letters. ``36 Yrs. Exper. Insur/Mngmnt.''

Dick Wilcox has dropped off hundreds of resumes at companies and office parks. He's sent out hundreds more online. He's had two interviews and not a single job offer near the $50,000 he needs.

Now his severance, unemployment, modest savings and pension are almost gone. Michele Wilcox, who raised three children and supplemented Dick's income with a home crochet business, brought in just $9,000 this year. Her small business is yet another victim, it appears, of a shrinking economy.

A year ago, the couple planned to help an infertile daughter finance an expensive overseas adoption. They'd hoped to replace a 12-year-old car. Now, even if both find $10-an-hour jobs tomorrow, they're on the brink of losing their home.

Dick Wilcox, who has a can-do, take-charge aura about him - and unique ideas on making older workers more attractive - says he's still a bit stunned by it all. ``When I first lost my job I said, `Well, it's not the end of the world. I'll go out and find something else . . .' I never expected . . . this.''

Here is the good and bad news. Last week, his story made the front page of The Wall Street Journal. Since then he's had hundreds of phone calls, mostly from other older laid-off workers who are discouraged, too, ``and practically crying on the phone,'' he says. ``Out of work nine months, 14 months. Unbelievable, terrible stories.''

But he's also had calls from other media outlets, including nationally syndicated radio shows, cable TV's NECN and two of the three big morning network shows: ``Good Morning America'' and ``The Early Show.'' But the morning shows keep delaying him, he says, because of war stories.

Meanwhile, he says, not a single politician has called. ``They'd much rather debate the war than talk about the economy because they don't have any solutions. They just keep promising the economy's going to turn around. . . Now they don't even say it anymore and we've got tens of thousands out of work.''

Although media coverage has led to at least one promising interview offer, Dick Wilcox is taking no chances. He plans to be out again tomorrow morning, the corner of Route 138 and Washington Street, where people have climbed over snowbanks to shake his hand or bring him Dunkin' Donuts. ``One woman tapped me on the shoulder with tears in her eyes. She said, `This is the gutsiest thing I ever saw anybody do.' ''

He says that when he first thought of the sign, he was afraid to tell his wife or children. He was embarrassed, scared he'd seem like a failure, like ``some idiot'' standing in the road.

Yesterday, Michele Wilcox said she'd admired her husband's daring. Yesterday Karen Wilcox, their oldest child, said her father ``had proven us all wrong'' for ever fretting about his sign. She said her father had worked hard all his life and that when she heard him last week on the radio, ``I had tears in my eyes. . . . I'm so proud of him.''

[F.J. Mitchell]

Age bigotry in hiring, is not the problem here-going through life with one's head up their anus is.

[cynicom]

$2000 bucks a month rent??? On a 65K salary that is a tad upscale.

[Tacis]

The guy is SOL! The worst discrimination in the country is against applicants over age 50 and even the federal government does it. With Microsoft, it's age 35. This guy has millions of folks in the same boat. Most, however, of that age purchased homes and his paying rent here, just doesn't ring true.

This is where you start an eBay business operating out of the back bedroom.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

North Easton is a pricey town. Probably can't buy anything with only 65k a year. I don't know how he lived in that area when he was working. 65k is peanuts. I'd bet property taxes are at least twenty bucks or more per thousand with an average little house being over a quarter mil. So just RE taxes would be 5 grand.

I don't know how or why anyone still lives in MA.

[RobRoy]

Frank Loydd Wright was "finished" every 20 years or so. Yet every time he went on to top all his previous achievements. His last great project was the art museum in New York, if memory serves me. I believe He was in his 80's or 90's at that time.

I'm 49 and plan on changing carreers soon, just to keep things interesting.

[clamper1797]

Most, however, of that age purchased homes and his paying rent here, just doesn't ring true

Hard to make a mortgage without a pay check. Don't make that payment ... foreclosure and voila ... you're a renter. I will grant that $2,000 a month is a bit steep BUT it depends on where he lives. You can't touch a single room apt in Silicon Valley for much less than that.

[jayef]

Actually, I have enough savings to pay my bills for 2 years. I work in one of the most competitive and downtrodden sectors of the economy and have never had difficulty finding work. I pray and give thanks to my God every day for what I have and I pray that others do not suffer. If I'm due for an attitude adjustment, it won't be because of a layoff.

[RightWhale]

one layoff notice from a complete attitude adjustment

Even 6 months worth of salary savings can run out. Making car payments and paying rent and maybe other financial commitments is a style of living wealthy while being merely affluent. Affluent means there is income to cover expenditure at a high rate. Doesn't mean there is any wealth at all. When the income stops, the affluence stops. It's cardboard bungalow village next. Maybe a room in an old Buick if you're lucky.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

This is where you start an eBay business operating out of the back bedroom.

Amen! Started mine last year and was able to make the down payment on my new house within 6 months. Hope to go full-time with it in the next year or so.

[jayef]

Why would anyone who is unemployed need to live in Silicon Valley?

[dfwgator]

Technology is responsible for much of the change. There is simply not as much need for human brain power as before, as computers take up most of the slack. Plus the emergence of talented labor pools in India and China and the ability of technology to make their distance transparent has also had a tremendous impact. Make no mistake, we are witnessing a disruption as great as the Industrial Revolution, and we are all going to have to adapt to it, like it or not.

[matthew_the_brain]

Boo Freakin Hoo, let me get out my viola. There are tons of jobs, TONS, in the insurance industry, it is one of the few industries still hiring.

This doofus wants another coffee drinking, 35 hour per week memo producing job. He is a dinosaur who needs to learn to walk again.

[Ga Rob]

Well now we wouldn't want him to actually take care of himself now would we?? It's always someone else's fault with these stories.

Someone posted earlier..."maybe he lost his 401k in the stock market",blah, blah.....diversify!!! Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate...jeeeezzz. Wooo is me.

[ThinkDifferent]

I invested in a "top of the line" portfolio for 20+ years

That sucks, but you must have had spectacularly bad luck. I was unfortunate to start investing at the height of the bubble, but I'm only down around 30% thanks to dollar cost averaging.

[RobRoy]

My contract ends in a few months. I'm ALWAYS a few months or less from "unemployed." Of course, so is any real estate agent.

Americans who work for the same company for over 20 years never get the opportunity to reach full adulthood or responsibility for their own future, and the freedom that brings.

For them, it feels almost as though life has ended if they get laid off.

[clamper1797]

Well congrats ... with the high tech industry unemployment figures in the 30%+ range ... I have a number (lrge number) of VERY qualified people who are NOT that lucky. Incidently, I had enough saved in the market to live VERY well for 20+ years .... before the crashes. So did a LOT of my friends

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

I used to temp in southern new england just to get out of the house. All of the temp agents and most of the agencies I knew are out of business now.

If you sell a house your first day as a RE broker, you don't get paid for three months. Can't just become a Broker anymore, takes like three years.

I know an astonishing number of over forty men who are out of work and out of luck. There's nothing going on. Factories are closed, the tech industry has all but vanished. Even the service industries like insurance have moved.

People will have to get new ideas going.

That said, this story by Margery Egan is intended to be a sob story and to hurt this Administration.

[Ga Rob]

Speak for yourself.....I have been laid off. When I could not get one job that made me enough, I got 3. Don't speak for the rest of us...I got my attitude adjustments when I was a child..."Son, as long as you work you will eat" GrandDad.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Dick was pulling in $65,000 per year and couldn't manage to open a Roth or two? Or perhaps get a portfolio of mutual funds to invest in?

Reminds me of what my Old Man used to say:
"Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

[RobRoy]

In 1970, during the big Boeing layoffs, the father of one of my class mates was one of the last to be laid off (20+ year experience as a Boeing engineer). He became an insurance salesman, made SUBSTANTIALLY more money, and never looked back.

Fear is the killer.