ProPublica stands out as one of those news organization that still has the resources and commitment to investigative reporting. We covered their deep reporting with Mother Jones on systematic replacement of older workers at IBM last year.
Following on that thread they have published “If You’re Over 50, Chances Are the Decision to Leave a Job Won’t be Yours”
A new data analysis by ProPublica and the Urban Institute shows more than half of older U.S. workers are pushed out of longtime jobs before they choose to retire, suffering financial damage that is often irreversible.
The article follows workers who have had to adjust their future plans when they were laid off and finding new work, work that pays what they were accustomed to, simply doesn’t exist.
ProPublica and the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank, analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study, or HRS, the premier source of quantitative information about aging in America. Since 1992, the study has followed a nationally representative sample of about 20,000 people from the time they turn 50 through the rest of their lives.
Richard Johnson, an Urban Institute economist and veteran scholar of the older labor force who worked on the analysis. “For the majority of older Americans, working after 50 is considerably riskier and more turbulent than we previously thought.”
The article is worth a read if you would benefit from knowing the realities of what may be happening to your professional life or what you can expect.
Layoff photo by Free Photo 4 Life on Flickr
Photo by Alan Levine on Flickr
