U.S. seniors hunt jobs as retirement hopes fade

By Carey Gillam
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Jean Johnson is 81 years old and suffering from diabetes. But instead of relaxing in retirement, she recently started a new job.
"I need money. My social security check just doesn't make it, with rent and the gas bill to pay," said Johnson, who took a job in March at a library in Danforth, Illinois. "I need to work."
Amid the economic downturn, shrinking retirement accounts, increasing costs for food and medicine, and stiff competition for even entry-level jobs, evidence is building that the dream of a comfortable retirement is dying for many Americans.
The ranks of the elderly looking for work has swelled more than 120 percent to more than 1.8 million in the last year. Among that group, those who were 75 and older increased by 80 percent, according to data from the National Council on Aging.
There are some 29 million seniors - those 55 and older - employed or actively looking for work in the United States, which is about 18 percent of the civilian labor force.
And their numbers are expected to grow.
"This economic crisis has had just a horrible impact on the entire population, but it has had a very severe impact on older people," said Sandra Nathan, workforce development vice president at the National Council on Aging.
Nathan said her organization was seeing a record number of people seeking assistance with job training and employment.
"Before people used to retire and stay retired. Now what we have are people 75 years old and older who are still in the workforce," Nathan said.
With a national unemployment rate at 9.4 percent, the highest in more than 25 years, the odds are stacked against older Americans seeking work. An array of new or expanded programs, however, are aimed at leveling the playing field.
The U.S. government has allocated stimulus dollars to bolster programs targeted at getting older workers onto private payrolls and off of the shaky U.S. social security system. Even individuals over 75 are being encouraged to get training and job hunting help.
"The recovery act funds came about at exactly the right time," said Judith Gilbert, who heads the older worker program at the U.S. Department of Labor.
STIMULUS MONEY
The department is funding efforts in all 50 states that employ low-income earners who are 55 and over and employed in government or nonprofit jobs that are considered to benefit communities.
The goal is to provide these workers an immediate source of income and ease entry into similar jobs in the private sector. Continued...
Source: Reuters