"Stop crying."
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I didn't read any words of self pity in that article. The guy who was downsized could have taken the road that many take. He could have opted for food stamps and Medicaid and government housing. He could have stood at street corners with a phony sign promising to work for food. He could have sent his daughter to do naked dances for cash at Duke lacrosse players' parties. Instead, he is working, not for the wages he was making before, but there's no crying the article, just a statement of the facts.
Glad you have been able to put your education and experience to work for you in your own business, but why are you so judgmental of someone who has sought to find his own way by following a different path?
I wasn't trying to denigrate anybody. I was simply making the point that there are those YOUNGER than 59 (heck, younger than 45, even) who also fall into several "gray areas" with regards to downsizing, layoffs, etc.
My own experience is simply one.
When you stop to consider the age group being discussed (40-ish and above) the most glaring reason for their unemployment is curiously left uncovered in the article or in some of the responses: these are a) the most expensive employees (in terms of salary, retirement benefits, etc) to keep, and b) these are also the same employees that more or less BUILT the businesses that are laying them off in droves (there is no loyalty in the boardroom), and c) many of them expected their employment to last forever at their current levels of salary and benefits (many neglected to update their skills and resumes to suit difefrent business climates).
If I could afford to, I would seriously consider hiring people in this age category precisely because there is no substitute for experience and many of the skills they possess (known as institutional knowledge). But there would have to be some trade-offs, and herein lies the rub: many emplpoyers WOULD hire them, but not at the salaries and levels of benefits they've become accustomed to. The economics of the modern workplace dictates this, to a large extent.
Regardless, perhaps if some of the people who fall into this category would stop playing victim, take control of their own lives, and apply that experience and those skills in a productive way for their own benefit, they just might help themselves.