Over 50 and Employed? Good for You.

Feeling Secure? Good Luck.

Job security. You know that term. For some it feels like reality. For others, it’s an oxymoron. A lot of how that term feels to you depends on your age.

We all like to think of ourselves as data-driven, so let’s look at the data. According to an ongoing study reported by the Urban Institute, if you’re over 50 and employed you have a 56 percent chance of involuntarily losing your job. That’s one out of two.

For the affected 56 percent, only 1 in 10 ever earn as much as before they were separated, and finding a new job typically takes six months or longer.

If you’re over 50 and employed you have a 56 percent chance of involuntarily losing your job

What’s interesting is that this phenomenon isn’t restricted to men or women — it’s about evenly distributed. And it’s not industry-specific — it’s pretty consistent across industries. Education level doesn’t matter much either, although those without a college education are slightly more able to recapture pre-separation income, perhaps because that income was lower to start.

These data come from the Health and Retirement Study, a longitudinal research project started in 1992, and currently including more than 20,000 respondents. It’s funded by the National Institutes of Health and is considered a premiere source of information on older populations in the U.S.

It boils down to this: if you’re over 50 and have been in your job for more than five years, you have a better than one-in-two chance of involuntarily losing your job. If you have a peer in the same age group where you work, one of you will be gone at some point not far in the future. Are you ready for that?

Getting a new job — especially one that pays as well as the old one — is increasingly difficult if you’re over 50. Median household income for those over 65 who experienced an involuntary separation was 14 percent lower than for those who did not lose their jobs.

Getting a new job is increasingly difficult if you’re over 50

A recent Wall St. Journal article looked at the other side of this. More and more people in their 60s and beyond are saying they have no intention of ever retiring. The reasons are many: relevance, continued learning, wanting to stay engaged, income needs, etc.

In fact, retirement satisfaction has been dropping since the start of this study, from about 60 percent to nearly 40 percent. It seems that waking up every day with no goals, no challenges, and nothing pressing isn’t all that fun after a couple of months.

Corporate America mostly sees those over 50 as used up, too expensive, technologically disabled, and a drain on health care. That may change with time, but even if it does, it will take time.

Instead of waiting for the world to change, many of these workers are changing it themselves. New business startups grew exponentially during the pandemic, and have yet to taper off. These aren’t just 20-somethings trying to reach influencer status on social Instead of waiting for the world to change, many of these workers are changing it themselves.

Instead of waiting for the world to change, many of these workers are changing it themselves

More and more, people in their 50s and older are using their skills and investing in themselves to create the future they want, without worrying about getting laid off or having to fit into some outdated model. And when you enjoy your work, retirement feels unnecessary.

For anyone interested in exploring self-sufficiency there are lots of options. Let’s talk.