Americans in their 50s especially hard-hit by recession
09/10/2010 3 comments
Patrick May wrote the following article in our local newspaper San Jose Mercury News on 9/4/2010:
"In this bloody free-for-all of a recession, Americans in their 50s are really taking it hard on the chin.
Their 401(k)s have been cut down to 201(k)s. Their pensions have been frozen, or worse. Their home equity has evaporated just as their kids' college bills come due. And while younger workers may have been hit harder by unemployment, 50-something Americans who get laid off are stuck in jobless limbo longer than any other age group. "It's a real mess," says Linda Kahn, a 51-year-old San Jose graphic designer who lost her job in early 2009 and recently took a part-time gig at Target "because I was going insane just hanging around the house. On my block alone, three of us in our 50s are out of work. One woman's dipping into her savings to live. Our houses are worth less than we paid for them. And the two interviews I had went nowhere." In the newspaper (not the online version), it further gave the following statistics from sources AARP and Pew Economic Policy Group: Retirement: -32%. overall retirement account went down to $5.9 trillion in March 2009 from a peak of $8.7 trillion in Sept. 2007. NetWorth: -45%. In 2009, the median American household in the 45-54 age group had seen its net worth drop by more than 45 percent since 2004. Unemployment: 30%. Nearly 30 percent of unemployed people 55 or older have been jobless for a year longer, a higher rate than any other age group. labels:investments,retirement,401K,
comments
3
Or Start FREE 30-day trial now >>
