Unemployment rates lower for older workers, trends still a concern

Men and women who choose to remain in the workplace and feel that active living situations are beneficial have been able to hold on to their jobs at a higher rate than their younger counterparts, recently released statistics suggest.


According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers over the age of 55 only expe

rienced unemployment at a rate of 6.2 percent, far below those aged 18-24, of whom nearly one-fifth found themselves currently unemployed.


Things weren't as rosy for workers of all ages: total unemployment rates for March 2009 rose to 8.5 percent as nearly 700,000 Americans lost their jobs, or the highest levels seen since the early 1980s, statistics from the Bureau of Labor indicate.


More importantly, even older workers can't fight the trend of job loss, as unemployment rose 20 percent since January, and has nearly doubled since this time last year.


Older employees are likely to remain in the workplace considering the recent economic downturn, as BLS economist James Marschall Borbely wrote recently that nearly 40 percent of those over the age of 55 kept their jobs in 2007, up one percent from 2007.


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