A First in Nearly 50 Years, Older Workers Face Higher Unemployment Than Mid-Career Workers

Owen Davis, Bridget Fisher, Teresa Ghilarducci and Siavash Radpour

No 2020-05, SCEPA publication series. from Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School

Abstract: An examination of the status of older workers in the fourth quarter of 2020 reveals three highlights: unemployment rates for workers 55 and older exceeded those of mid-career workers for the length of the pandemic — the first time since 1973 such an unemployment gap has persisted for six months or longer; Older workers lost jobs faster and returned to work slower than mid-career workers, creating an unemployment gap of 1.1 percentage points between older workers' six-month average unemployment rate of 9.7% and mid-career workers' rate of 8.6%; and Older workers who are Black, female, or lack a college degree experienced higher rates of job loss and are more exposed to retirement risks. Policy recommendations include Congress increasing and extending unemployment benefits for older workers, discourage withdrawals from 401(k)s and IRAs, lower Medicare eligibility to 50, and create a federal Older Workers Bureau.

Keywords: older workers; recession; COVID-19; coronavirus; downward mobility; poverty; unemployment; wages; involuntary retirement; retirement; 401k; Medicare; Older Workers Bureau; racial disparities; disparities; inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J30 J38 J58 J60 J88 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age and nep-mac
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