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Older Workers Will Be More Vulnerable in the Next Recession

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Abstract

An examination of the status of older workers in the third quarter of 2019 reveals two highlights: older workers have higher levels of financial fragility than in 2006, before the Great Recession, and millions of workers who are now nearing retirement lost jobs in the 2008-09 recession, saw their wages fall, and now face increased risk of repeated job loss. Policy recommendations include boosting financial security for older people by strengthening Social Security, creating Guaranteed Retirement Accounts, bolstering unemployment insurance, and creating a federal Older Workers Bureau to protect this growing population in the labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Retirement Equity Lab, 2019. "Older Workers Will Be More Vulnerable in the Next Recession," SCEPA publication series. 2019-03, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    • Handle: RePEc:epa:cepapb:2019-03
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    File URL: https://www.economicpolicyresearch.org/images/Retirement_Project/status_of_older_workers_reports/TNS_Paper_OWAG_191104.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Henry S. Farber, 2015. "Job Loss in the Great Recession and its Aftermath: U.S. Evidence from the Displaced Workers Survey," NBER Working Papers 21216, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    5. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell & Noemi Oggero, 2018. "The Changing Face of Debt and Financial Fragility at Older Ages," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 407-411, May.
    6. Henry S. Farber, 1998. "Has the Rate of Job Loss Increased in the Nineties?," Working Papers 773, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    7. Richard W. Johnson & Corina Mommaerts, 2011. "Age Differences in Job Displacement, Job Search, and Reemployment," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2011-3, Center for Retirement Research, revised Jan 2011.
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    9. Henry S. Farber, 2015. "Job Loss in the Great Recession and its Aftermath: U.S. Evidence from the Displaced Workers Survey," Working Papers 589, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    10. Farber, Henry S, 2015. "Job Loss in the Great Recession and its Aftermath: U.S. Evidence from the Displaced Workers Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 9069, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    older workers; financial fragility; recession; financial security; unemployment; wages; bargaining power;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General
    • J88 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Public Policy
    • J58 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Public Policy

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