Age Counts in
Hiring, the Older Jobless Find
By
JOHN W. FOUNTAIN
NY Times, November 13, 2002
CHICAGO — Robert Linn expects that each day could be his lucky day,
though it was winter the last time he had a job, and the wind is blowing
cold again.
An accountant, Mr. Linn was laid off nine months ago as a controller at
Aon Risk Services. He still has a monthly $2,600 mortgage and tax payment
on his four-bedroom house in Winnetka, a suburb north of here, and the
expense of raising a family. He and his wife, Fleury, who works part time,
have a daughter who is a freshman in high school and are looking ahead to
college costs.
Mr. Linn's savings and state unemployment benefits, he said, are enough
to tide them over until he lands a new job, although continued news of
layoffs and a saturated market of highly qualified, and younger, workers
offers little solace.
At 58, Mr. Linn — like many other Americans 50 or older who have lost
their career jobs in a new, less-predictable economy — worries that he
may never have another job as good as the one he had, which paid more than
$100,000 a year. Like Mr. Linn, some of the older unemployed say their
hard luck in job hunting has less to do with their qualifications and
ability than with their age.
Age is "very definitely a factor," Mr. Linn said.
"There are very few ads that say 10-plus years of experience or
15-plus years of experience," he added. "In other words, if you
have more experience than that it's a presumption that you're
overqualified or they don't want people that are older."
His résumé does not hide his age, and he said, "I respond to
those ads and get no responses."
Economists do not know whether the downturn affects those in their 50's
and 60's more than younger workers. A study by the International Longevity
Center-USA, a research group in Manhattan, showed that times were changing
for older workers. In the recession of the early 80's, the study said, men
ages 45 to 59 were less likely to lose their jobs than those 25 to 39. By
the recession of the early 90's, seniority did not provide as much
security, and older men were just as likely to be laid off as younger men.
If and when some older workers land jobs, some experts say, they tend
to find lower-paying, more temporary, low-skill or impermanent service or
consulting jobs instead of those that they have dreamed of, those they
have spent their lives building reputations and careers.
The problem is not age alone, said Hilarie Lieb, a Northwestern
University professor of labor economics.
"The economy is not as strong as it was in the past, and
demographically, there are a lot more people hitting this age,"
Professor Lieb said about workers over 50. "People expect to earn
more when they have more experience. So they tend to be higher-salaried
workers, which can be a deterrent for employers."
Mayer Freed, a professor of labor and employment law at the
Northwestern Law School, said that "it's not such an unusual pattern
for people to lose their jobs" in a sputtering economy and at a point
in their careers where it can be hard to find re-employment at comparable
levels.
"There is probably some preference given by employers to younger
workers, and in principle, that's illegal," Professor Freed said.
"Federal law is quite clear that it is illegal to base decisions like
that on age. But it is not easy to enforce that law."
Some employers may prefer younger people, he said, expecting them to
stay longer after investing time and money training them.
"It may also be a result of stereotyped thinking, that people are
on a downward slope once they reach a certain age," Professor Freed
said.
A result is that older prospects are often left out in the cold. George
Putnam, an economist with the Illinois Employment Security Department,
said laid-off workers 55 or older were in general 10 percent less likely
than 35-year-olds to find work.
That may be bad news in light of the figures that show the Chicago
unemployment rate through September at 6.3 percent, up from 5.4 percent in
2001. Statewide, the rate was 6.3 percent, up from 5.6, and nationally it
was 5.6, up from 5 percent.
Workers across the spectrum have been affected. Bogdan Polowniak, a
union bricklayer for 20 years, made $30.15 an hour until he was recently
laid off. Mr. Polowniak, 47, wearing an American flag bandanna on his head
at an unemployment office here, said he was wondering whether his best
days were behind him. He is married with three children.
"There's work going on, but not enough for everybody," Mr.
Polowniak said. "I think they're always looking for younger people.
They're stronger, faster. The older you get, you slow down a little
bit."
His friend Stan Puckowski, 51, who went to the office with him and is
also a bricklayer, considers himself lucky not to have a family to worry
about. But, Mr. Puckowski said, being jobless means that he has no money
to send to relatives in Poland.
If not for his veteran's benefits, Charles Curtis, 51, an unemployed
construction worker, said he would "be in trouble." Mr. Curtis
said that his unemployment benefits had run out long ago and that he was
living off food stamps.
"I'm out here trying every day to work," he said. "It's
just discouraging."
What is an older worker to do?
Like Mr. Linn, Tom Walsh, 60, has turned to Operation ABLE, which
stands for Ability Based on Long Experience. The agency here helps
unemployed workers, with emphasis for those over 50, in finding jobs and
training. Mr. Walsh, a computer programmer, lost his job a year ago in
layoffs at Sears, where he had worked for 15 years.
"I've had people tell me I'll probably never work in that field
again," he said. "I'm a little more optimistic."
Mr. Walsh lives in suburban Park Ridge in a $300,000 house. He and his
wife, a personnel manager, have two children. He figures that he is far
better off than some people who have lost their jobs, because "in my
case it's not a case of how we're going to put groceries on the
table."
Meanwhile, Mr. Walsh continues to hunt, as well as hope.
The good and bad news, said Durant Hunter, president of Whitehead Mann,
a recruiter based in New York City, is that people over 50 are hired every
day, though he said that was the exception rather than the rule.
"As an executive recruiter," Mr. Hunter said, "I have
rarely had someone say, `Can you find me someone over 50 for this job?' It
is almost always, `Find me someone 35 to 45.' "
Mr. Hunter added that most people did not have such notable success.
Mr. Linn, an accountant at an insurance company for 19 years, until
1999, has had two jobs since then, including the one at Aon. He said he
had not given up hope. Dipping into savings "probably means I'll just
have to work longer," Mr. Linn said.
He said he believed that "the economy is getting better,"
though he heard from a friend that an advertisement for a controller's
position in a newspaper drew 800 responses.
He intends to keep looking, he said, figuring that someone somewhere is
looking for "a participative and collaborative manager that gets
things done and meets deadlines in a timely and accurate manner."
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