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Still working and in my field, the jobs report day is a critical day. This past Friday, the unemployment rate fell to 6.3% from 6.7% and it was said that more people left the workforce than ever.
Some attribute this to the large numbers of people actually retiring.
Do you find more of your friends or colleagues are leaving the workforce or retiring?
If you are retired, do you find more of your friends are doing it and you get together more?
I think it was 800K left. not all those are retiree but it averages 8K per month lately I read. I was watching a show today and the employers said that if a person had been out of work for five years it was unlikely they would every return in any numbers. That is a heck of a problem with cuts coming. ;like it or not.
Still working and in my field, the jobs report day is a critical day. This past Friday, the unemployment rate fell to 6.3% from 6.7% and it was said that more people left the workforce than ever.
Some attribute this to the large numbers of people actually retiring.
Do you find more of your friends or colleagues are leaving the workforce or retiring?
If you are retired, do you find more of your friends are doing it and you get together more?
What I'm noticing is that many of the 50+ crowd who were laid off in 2007-2010 have taken lower paying, lower end jobs than they had before. They are desperately hanging on until they get SS, turn 59.5, or to some other milestone. They are not worried about career growth and are meekly settling for what they have now.
Meanwhile, these older workers who should be in higher positions or retiring altogether have dammed up the entry level jobs. Younger workers, particularly lower skilled types, who should have been occupying these jobs, are not being hired at all. Many 20 somethings cannot get an effective start because aging boomers are clinging to entry-level and low wage jobs that normally would go to younger people.
IMHO, these reports are guesses as to what is going on. Look at the broad picture. Things have never really recovered much in many states. Some states, like Texas never stopping growing and expanding. For Texas 2009 was just a pause in its continuous growth. I don't lose any sleep about the national economy. If some states want to raise taxes and do other things to drive people and businesses out of their state, that's not my problem. If the fed. govt. wants to make things worse, and continue to punish success and hard work, I really don't care. I keep working and ignore the craziness and the crazy people all around making a mess of their lives. Its always been true that life for each person is full of challenges. I don't run the govt. So I concentrate on my life and my problems and my responsibilities.
What I'm noticing is that many of the 50+ crowd who were laid off in 2007-2010 have taken lower paying, lower end jobs than they had before. They are desperately hanging on until they get SS, turn 59.5, or to some other milestone. They are not worried about career growth and are meekly settling for what they have now.
Meanwhile, these older workers who should be in higher positions or retiring altogether have dammed up the entry level jobs. Younger workers, particularly lower skilled types, who should have been occupying these jobs, are not being hired at all. Many 20 somethings cannot get an effective start because aging boomers are clinging to entry-level and low wage jobs that normally would go to younger people.
I was dumbfounded reading this. You described my situation exactly. I've been 'hanging on' since 2010, making less than I made as far back as 2003. Because items like homeowners insurance have tripled since 2003, my savings agenda cramped and my plan for retirement seemed untenable. But, hurrah, hurrah, I filed my papers this past week and yesterday I applied for SS online. I have to say that worse than the loss of income, is the stultifying boredom of being in one of those 'lower end' jobs that offers little responsibility and little challenge. However, my will to advance up the ladder again vanished after being hit so being in a low stress job does have some advantage.
It's all a numbers game which can be interpreted in so many different ways.
For me as a federal worker the last ten years have been doom and gloom over the prospect of most of the work force leaving in increasing numbers......it is now happening with greater frequency and this year we are rapidly losing people mid year rather than at years end. In the next three years at my location we stand to have a very detrimental brain drain. Those of us that have years of trade related experience (craftsmen and women) are not being replaced with qualified people. We have plenty of newbies in their twentys but it jumps to late fiftys and sixties crafts people.
Sixty two seems to be the magic number from what I can see and again we are running out of people to promote.......sounds crazy but with trades a lot of promotions came from those with experience who could walk the walk and talk the talk. Sometimes those not qualified received promotions, but those working for them had the knowledge to carry out the tasks virtually unsupervised. That's not the case now and it is getting kind of scary. You can only train so much......those with the years of knowledge have so much tribal knowledge that can not be picked up from books, but by on the job experience.
Sixty two seems to be the magic number from what I can see and again we are running out of people to promote.......sounds crazy but with trades a lot of promotions came from those with experience who could walk the walk and talk the talk. Sometimes those not qualified received promotions, but those working for them had the knowledge to carry out the tasks virtually unsupervised. That's not the case now and it is getting kind of scary. You can only train so much......those with the years of knowledge have so much tribal knowledge that can not be picked up from books, but by on the job experience.
Institutional memory, experience, maturity, an old-fashioned work ethic, loyalty going both up and down the corporate structure... Much of this seems to have evaporated as the bottom line became not just the "thing" but the ONLY thing.
Being able to and retiring at age 62 was a blessing!
> I thought those unemployment figures didn't reflect people who retire but only people who quit looking for work or unemployment ran out???
The unemployment rate is computed for people "actively looking for work." Retirement is one reason that people leave the job market, but discouragement, disability, etc. are other reasons.
It's going to be hard to understand the movement of the economy as a whole from your personal experience. What I read says the national economy is improving, but slowly. Also- there is a significant number of people who have been unemployed for a considerable time. I fear this will become a significant social problem.
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