Not Taking ‘Not Hiring’ For An Answer

Baby boomers have lived during an era of unparalleled prosperity. So when this deep recession hit – at a time when boomers were advancing to middle – and late-middle age – much was written about them being too spoiled to cope.

Not so. A look at recent employment data indicates that boomers have persevered in these hard times, and are less likely to grow discouraged and quit the job hunt than younger workers are. Older adults are not giving up, despite the fact that the unemployment rate for baby boomers has doubled since the start of the recession, what the federal government calls their “labor participation rate” – the number of 45- to 64-year-olds working or actively seeking work – has remained unchanged. In contrast, every other age group has shown a decline.

Older workers don’t have the choice of withdrawing from the labor force, they have mortgages to pay, health issues and retirement to worry about, as well as children to put through college.

Tory Johnson, owner of Women for Hire, which for the last decade has run job fairs in America’s 10 largest cities, has been struck by the toughness of the boomer work force. “With the 20- and 30-somethings, the attitude is, ‘No one is hiring, what’s the point of going to a job fair?’ ” Ms. Johnson said. “With the boomers, it’s, ‘Even if there’s one job, I’ll try.’ ” At her 16 job fairs so far in 2009, she said, attendance is up 10 percent over all, and it’s because of boomers; every other age group has declined.

A big shift she’s seen is middle-aged workers turning to temporary employment to survive. “It may not be the ideal scenario,” she said. “But there’s a recognition you have to do what it takes, and it could lead to a full-time job.”
Indeed, a growth in temporary work is one of the very few hopeful employment signs at this moment. When Keith Hall, the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, recently announced the 10.2 percent jobless rate for October, he noted only two sectors had shown growth: health care, with 29,000 new jobs, and temporary workers with 34,000.

Boomer-age workers are the only age group whose employment prospects have improved since last summer. For people over 45, joblessness was 6.8 percent in October, down from 7.3 percent in July (the highest for this age group since data was first collected 60 years ago). In contrast, for 25- to 34-year-olds, joblessness was 10.8 percent in October, up from 10 percent in July; for those 35 to 44, it was 8.5 percent in October, up from 7.9 in July.

Studies have shown that during a recession, the first harbinger of employment recovery is growth of temporary jobs. Typically, six months later you start to see improvement in general employment.

The hope is that employers make those temporary jobs permanent.  Hearing employers say, “I have a position to fill with potential to hire full time.”

Excerpt taken from The New York Times-2009.

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