Reinvention wake-up call: Half of lost jobs are gone forever
Posted on 28 January 2010
Permanent URL of this article: http://retirementrevised.com/career/reinvention-wake-up-call-half-of-lost-jobs-are-gone-forever
Many older laid-off workers cling to the hope that they’ll find new jobs in their former line of work. It’s one of the most common errors of older job-seekers-and one of the most fatal. Rapid change makes it tough for laid-off workers to keep their skills fresh, and experience isn’t always valued as highly as you’d expect.
Here’s another wake-up call: nearly half of the layoffs in this recession involve jobs that have disappeared permanently. Catherine Rampell, who writes for Economix at The New York Times, points out today that “the shift from temporary layoffs to permanent job loss has been especially pronounced [in this recession]. In fact, the share of the unemployed who lost their jobs permanently is at its highest level since at least 1967, the first year for which the Labor Department has these numbers available.”
That means that reducing unemployment will depend to a greater extent than ever on creation of jobs that didn’t exist before the recession. That points to the need for career reinvention, acquiring new skills, education and degrees. Says Rampell, “Some workers may need to move to new places in order to start a different career.”
From where I sit, this just reinforces the notion that the best shot for older workers will be encore careers or entrepreneurial start-ups.
February 5th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
‘Here’s another wake-up call: nearly have of the layoffs in this recession involve jobs that have disappeared permanently.’
‘Have?’ The word is ‘half.’ It’s even in the headline.