Boomer salaries — a bummer
Posted on January 24th, 2011 by Michele AndersonIt’s bad enough that you’re in your 50s, or, ee-gads, your 60s, you’ve been on the job hunt since forever, and you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired. So, you’re surfing the Internet during your always-ample free time, and you run across bloggers yelping about a new Urban Institute report that has … even more bad news for Baby Boomers.
Diminishing paychecks.
This dry little study on age differences in job loss, job search, and reemployment declares that, after a layoff, it’s tougher for Boomers to find a job than it is for youngsters 25-34.
Well, duh.
Then it gets interesting.
When the aging job-seeker finally does land a job — after a typically prolonged and painful slog through fruitless interviews, projectile mailing of thousands of resumes and eyesight ruined by too much Web-surfing of job sites — the salary is way, way lower than what the Boomer was being paid on the previous job. For Boomers in their 50s and very early 60s, it’s 20 percent lower. And it’s even worse for the folks older than 62 — the cut is close to 36 percent.
And your younger competitors in the job-hunt sweepstakes? Folks 35-49 had a 4.2 percent cut, and 20-somethings had a 1.5 percent cut after a layoff.
These findings are based on information gathered from 1999 through 2007, but no matter. The grim march of data continues: The study found that Boomer guys ages 50-61 who became unemployed mid-2008 through 2009 were a third less likely than younger workers to find a job within 12 months. And for the over-62 crowd, these poor unfortunates were half as likely as younger workers to get a new job within a year.
So, for the employed Boomer, it might be a good idea to stay put.
As for the unemployed — keep on searching, and don’t spend your free time reading grim reports on re-employment prospects for Boomers.