My brother, he is not the only one
My brother is 59 years old, he will be 60 in 2 months. He just had his hours cut to 50%. He is pretty sure he will be laid off entirely within 2 weeks.
Before this crisis, unless you were an executive-level employee, or well connected somehow somewhere, if you were laid off even at the age of 45 it was almost impossible to find work in your field. If you could it was for a wage worth a fraction of what you were likely earning.
My brother is not the only one facing this situation. Millions upon millions of folks in this age group are losing their jobs right now. They all know the prospects of finding work anywhere comparable to their current earnings, let alone half of what they were earning are gone. They know employers are going to turn to cheaper, younger labor. They have been watching this similar if smaller-scale, reality as it played out in our economic system before this crisis for decades now.
They know what is coming for them. My brother is already resigned to this fate, as are millions of others in his situation.
the other problem once the public health crisis is over...Jobs
The reality is, as our economy reopens the market will be flooded with desperate people fighting over very scarce jobs. It is going to be hard on all of us in one way or another. But those over 50 or 55 will likely have the biggest problem finding ANY work. Wages will be on the low end if they can even find the work. Wages will be low for every age group. Even lower than before the crisis. People will need any work they can get.
It is not the fault of younger workers that the older workers are the most likely to be looked over for employment after the crisis is over. It will be a massive continuing hardship for older workers that, even if they can find work, are extremely unlikely to find work that pays anything near their current wage.
The generational tensions are clear in our society, just look at the voting demographics in our own primary with one candidate earning landslide support from the older generation, and the other earning landslide margins with younger generations. This post virus world economy will only create a larger generational gulf, unless we adopt policies to mitigate these tensions.
So what sort of policies should we look at to mitigate this foreseeable economic catastrophe?
lowering the social security retirement and medicare eligibility age
To my fellow Berne supporters, let me be clear, I am 100% committed to Bernie’s proposal of Medicare for All (although honestly what he is pitching is Medicaid for all). And I think the Congress should move to push that legislation NOW. We are seeing in real-time what a profit-driven health care system has wrought in its inability to respond adequately to this crisis after all.
So, with that said, I also know this Congress will not do that.
We have this massive problem that impacts everyone in one way or another. The best policy approach to deal with the looming post-crisis jobs crisis is to just lower the retirement age to 55 or even 50 years old for anyone who lost work during the national emergency and fall within that age group. It will shrink the applicant pool and address the otherwise disastrous outcomes we can expect for older workers that WILL BE looked over for almost any work at all.
We know that is going to happen. We need to adopt policy to mitigate it as best as possible. Throwing all of us to the mercy of the market forces that will be at play will just be chaos otherwise. I am not even sure this approach will be enough, but it is certainly something we must look at.
What ideas do you have?