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Are Baby Boomers Stealing Jobs from the Young? (Part 1)
Townhall.com ^ | May 12, 2012 | Political Calculations

Posted on 05/12/2012 6:28:23 AM PDT by Kaslin

Walter Russell Mead writes on the disappearance of jobs for non-Baby Boomers:

An analysis of recent jobs figures at Investor.com reveals a disturbing development: the biggest beneficiaries from the economic recovery are Boomers, while everyone else is getting the shaft.

Since the Obama administration took office, there has been an epochal shift. Young workers have continued to lose jobs and incomes, while older workers have actually gained ground.

In fact, the Obama administration has seen a boom in the prospects of the 55+ crowd; their (I should say ‘our’) employment stands at a 42 year high. Net, there are 3.9 new jobs for people over 55 since the recession began in December 2007, but there are 8.1 million fewer jobs for the young folks since that time.

Jed Graham's IBD article features a chart that shows the employment-to-population ratio that applies for the following age groupings: Age 16-24, Age 25-55 and Age 55 and up:

The Great Generational Job Divide = Source: Investor's Business Daily

In the chart, we see that those Age 55 and older would appear to have a near constant share of their population group having jobs.

Meanwhile, we see significant decreases in the employment share of the populations for both the Age 25-54 group and especially for the Age 16-24 group since December 2007, which marks the beginning of the so-called "Great Recession".

We thought that outcome was interesting enough to dig deeper into the data to see how the age distribution of the U.S. workforce has changed over this period of time.

And to make it really interesting, we've decided to go back to November 2006 to do it. Here's why:

  1. The seasonally-adjusted level of total employment for the U.S. economy hit its all time peak in November 2007, just ahead of the Great Recession. Going back to November 2006 will allow us to capture the last full year of economic expansion for the U.S. economy.
  2. Coincidentally, the seasonally-adjusted number of teens (Age 16-19), who represent the lowest end of the age groups for which the BLS reports monthly jobs data, and is also the most negatively affected group over this period of time, last peaked in November 2006. Going back to this point in time will also fully capture what has happened with teen employment in the years since.
  3. The BLS breaks almost all of its age-related jobs data into five-year long cohorts, covering groupings like Age 20 to 24, Age 25 to 29, Age 30 to 34, et cetera. Going back to November 2006 will allow us to see how the employment situation for the same people whose employment was recorded in one of the age groups in November 2006 changed after they all moved up into the next higher age cohort in November 2011.

The downside to our more detailed approach is that we're not going to be able to use the BLS' seasonally-adjusted data for these older five-year age groupings, because the BLS only reports the non-seasonally adjusted data it collects for them, which means that the data we'll be using won't match these more commonly reported values.

Still, because we'll be comparing the data for the same month (November) five years apart, our analysis should only differ in very minor respects from what might be achieved using seasonally-adjusted data, if it had been available.

We're going to do this in a three-part series of posts, with this post being the first. Our next stop: the change in the age distribution of the American workforce from November 2006 to November 2011!


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: babyboomers; boomers; employment; jobs
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To: Kaslin

Not to worry young ens....after Obama stands the baby boomes in front of the death panels, then it’s up to you to pay off the Obama, Pelosi and Reid $Trillion dollar spending spree’s, as far as the eye can see..while paying off your ponzi scheme student loans til your 60..


81 posted on 05/12/2012 8:17:57 AM PDT by Freddd (No PA Engineers)
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To: Clara Lou

These whiners are a discouraging word.


82 posted on 05/12/2012 8:19:01 AM PDT by wtc911 (Amigo - you've been had.)
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To: Kaslin

Some 324,000 women dropped out of the labor force in
March and April alone, a study finds, way more than the
net 235,000 total net jobs added during those two
months.

Meanwhile the number of women not in the civilian labor
force hit an all-time historical high of 53. 3 million
in those two months


83 posted on 05/12/2012 8:19:38 AM PDT by Freddd (No PA Engineers)
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To: Kaslin
I see plenty of young people entering the industry and working their way up. They invariably 1) Know their stuff 2) Work hard and put effort into their projects 3) Dress and behave professionally 4) Have strong personal foundations that drive a proper work ethic.

They are out there. They are making it happen. The occutards have simply chosen...poorly.

84 posted on 05/12/2012 8:23:01 AM PDT by Caipirabob (I say we take off and Newt the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...)
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To: Clara Lou

I try to imagine how today’s crybabies would have made it through the Great Depression that wasn’t over before there was a World War? Our parents and grandparents did what they had to do. That’s the only advice there is, however trite it may sound.-———

The Obama Greater Depression is on the way. Today’s crybabies are gonna get there chance at going through it. It ain’t gonna be pretty.

Just because it doesn’t look horrid right this minute(to some), doesn’t mean it’s not gonna be ,soon enough.

It’s comin...


85 posted on 05/12/2012 8:25:22 AM PDT by Freddd (No PA Engineers)
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To: Two-Bits

‘Will you be happy when finally the “selfish” baby boomers are placed in the “ovens”?’-

It’s called ‘death panels’ today, isn’t it?


86 posted on 05/12/2012 8:27:50 AM PDT by Freddd (No PA Engineers)
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To: stars & stripes forever

Spot on, Stars & Stripes Forever. . .I have been following the Jonathan Cahn Harbinger series on the Jim Bakker Show. This Holy Spirit inspired New York Times Best Seller should serve as a wake up call to EVERY generation in America. http://www.amazon.com/The-Harbinger-ancient-mystery-Americas/dp/161638610X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336836564&sr=8-1

___________________________

“Final Retirement” for all may very well be SOONER rather than later!
__________________________________________________________

Jonathan Cahn’s “The Harbinger” spells out the Lord’s economic plan. America is either with Him or against Him and will reap its just reward.


87 posted on 05/12/2012 8:30:49 AM PDT by Maudeen (Proverbs 3:5-6)
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To: Anima Mundi
I am thinking that maybe the best path to a strong nation is not to divide people into groups and then pit the groups against one another: race v. race, gender v. gender, generation v. generation, religion v. religion, working v. stay at home, class v. class, etc. We seem to be going more towards tribalism and pack thinking and away from individualism and freedom.

This is a great way to distract people from questions such as:
88 posted on 05/12/2012 8:32:04 AM PDT by khelus
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To: Kaslin

“stealing” jobs - lovely presupposition. Obama’s America.


89 posted on 05/12/2012 8:36:35 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: Kaslin

I have been with the same company for 28 years. I think the lack of change in boomer employment has more to do with age than anything. Boomers are at the age where they are done raising families and are more settled and established. This makes them more attractive as employees. Also, boomers are retiring and thus leaving the workforce through natural attrition.


90 posted on 05/12/2012 8:41:55 AM PDT by socal_parrot (I hate to say I told you so, but...)
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To: joeystoy

I guess that makes two of us-count this boomer in. I’m a construction sub, broke and juggling bills most of the time thanks to this recession. Work is hard to find, pays less than ever, the price of gas is a bummer, but I remember the hard four Carter years, when my husband and I had a small child and he got laid off-we survived in spite of it all-this is just a re-visit of that, except I’m older, my husband is gone, and my kid is grown.

It will get better when we get rid of Obama, just like it did after Carter went away. Quitting is not in my family’s vocabulary-work is good for body and soul so keep the nails...

Nobody is stealing jobs from anyone else-older people like us are just far more willing to work and do without luxuries.


91 posted on 05/12/2012 8:42:27 AM PDT by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw hard line"...)
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To: SVTCobra03; Anima Mundi; All
...Bingo! We have a winner! This has been The Plan for decades and the frog is almost boiled. See Alinsky and Cloward-Piven for why we are on the verge of a liberal fascist police state.

Yep! The enemy within has been very busy and very patient for a long, long time.

Post #88

How many realize that Globalists and Free Traders are international communists/marxists/fascists in business suits, i.e. Cultural Marxism for the right. Marx advocated free trade devoid of patriotism and ethics to speed up the arrival of global communism. He also advocated central control of credit, aka the Fed. Now toss in some divide and conquer and voila ...
92 posted on 05/12/2012 8:43:16 AM PDT by khelus
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To: Anima Mundi

Very well put.

And further, it is Leftist, zero-sum-game thinking to believe there can’t be jobs out there for everyone who wants to work. The entire premise of this article is bunk.


93 posted on 05/12/2012 8:44:54 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: JCBreckenridge
Not to mention grandfathering pensions so that they get theirs, and everyone else gets nothing.

Do you think you could take that chip off your shoulder long enough to learn some facts before you continue spouting off? If so, I direct your attention to Who Killed Private Pensions.

Baby Boomer or Generation Xer, we all have a difficult road ahead of us. Drivng a wedge between the generations is not helpful.

94 posted on 05/12/2012 8:47:32 AM PDT by LSAggie
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To: Paladin2
...reveals a disturbing development: the biggest beneficiaries from the economic recovery are Boomers, while everyone else is getting the shaft.

The young voted for this fundamental change.

Yep - the young voted for it and have grown up in the entitlement society, so it's only natural that the Boomers, who have been working for the last 50+ years would take advantage of jobs as they become available. Those "getting the shaft" are likely to be akin to the OWS yo-yos that could care less about pulling their own weight. I realize there are lots who want to work and are having trouble, but the leeches are STILL out of work - not getting the shaft.

95 posted on 05/12/2012 8:48:24 AM PDT by trebb ("If a man will not work, he should not eat" From 2 Thes 3)
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To: Black_Shark

To Shark and Breckenridge — Step back and take some deep breaths! Of course the baby boomers appear to be taking up all the jobs. Bad thing is it is because of the condition of our economy that most of us olders are scared sh*tless and scrambling for ways to provide for our families. And as a boomer myself, I feel it is my demographic group that should shoulder most of the responsibility for our nation’s condition. The reason Congress decided to begin robbing the SS fund those many years ago is because there was so much darn money just sitting there! There were so many boomer workers filling up those coffers. Now, not so many (comparatively). Secondly, the nature of jobs has changed how many times in the past 40 years? Industrial, technological, financial.... you need to understand that it WILL be up to the YOUNGER generations to define how America will again gain her strength. The established system right now is corrupt. Lets stop trying to prop her back up. Lets begin to think about how to keep what we want from before and build it from there but with honesty and integrity. Believe me, the older generation will support EVERY SINGLE younger who has the heart to be the caretaker of this great nation. All of the comments here on this thread have the same message. Fear. Lets begin to think in a different frame of mind. Like one of invention and passion. The entire world is in a metamorphosis stage and will instantly begin to mold itself around positive energy. Perhaps your destiny lies in being one to cause great things to happen.


96 posted on 05/12/2012 8:49:00 AM PDT by patriotsoul
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To: JCBreckenridge
Instead it’s happening to folks like me.....I’d love to have the same opportunities as you did.....I’ve had to accept a lower standard of living compared with the folks who do (live on welfare)...

No sympathy here JC. I moved out of my parent's home at age 18. I lived in a basement efficiency apartment for the first 2 years, ate off of paper-plates and reused plastic utensils, rode the bus an hour one way to get to a part-time day job, then an hour back to get to the evening part-time job. Put myself through community college without financial aid or student loans. I do recall the day I finally was able to stand in line at the checkout at Gold Circle to buy my first set of real stainless steel utensils...I recall thinking that day, I worked 8 hours to pay for these. My plates came from saving grocery store receipts and many of my blouses were bought with 'green stamps.' Although you might not be old enough to know what those were. Oh and in the very beginning I even had a weekend job too boot. So yea, 3 part time jobs for 2 years. When was this prosperous time in my life? The late 1970's and early 1980's.

The year 1996, middle of the boom. My world took a major crash from the death of both parents to divorce from a cheating husband. I walked away with my car, clothes on my back. Barely enough saved for an apartment, I again took on a part-time job to support my fulltime employment. I again put myself through school, this time I won unclaimed scholarships to help pay my way. At one point I was running and working so hard, I got up and ran out the door knowing I was late to be somewhere. It was 6:30 and I had to look at the location of the sun to know if I was going to class or to work.

You want my opportunities, now?

Every obstacle in life is an opportunity waiting to happen.

97 posted on 05/12/2012 8:49:48 AM PDT by EBH (The redistribution of another man's money, does not create wealth for the "greater good.")
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To: VRW Conspirator
A rough look at the numbers: about 80 million born from 1945 to 1965. Add 65 years to 1945 and you get the year 2010

It seems that the word "Boomers" is being redefined. I always considered those being born about 9 months after the troops came home as boomers. The war in Europe ended in April 1945( Not sure of that date) and the war in Japan ended in August of that year, not everybody was out of the service immediately after the war ended, it took a lot of tiime for the processing out of many of them, so I'd say the boomer age probably started in late 1946 or early 1947.

Never thought of myself as a boomer. I was born in June, 1945. I retired when I was 54, so I guess I don't have a dog in this fight.

It seems wrong to me to define a whole generation (or two) by the acts of some hippies in the 60s, not that you did that but I've seen it. I'm a vet and served with many boomers and many of them didn't come home. About 57,000 of them I believe.

By the way, Mitt served his time in Paris during the heat of the Viet Nam war and is quoted as saying that the time his sons spent working on his perpetual campaign was the same as military service.

98 posted on 05/12/2012 8:54:54 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (Romney vs. Obama? One of them has to lose, I'll rejoice in that fact, whichever it is.)
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To: Freddd
It’s called ‘death panels’ today, isn’t it?

Not sure how to address your question but whether you are gassed and cremated or given a shot and buried etc, not much difference. Death by Murder vs Accidental or Natural Causes. It ends up the same.

How do you think they will dispose those that are designated to die by the death panels? Will it be burial or cremation? If there are many ... could be ovens are not too far off the mark.

How many millions did obama's mentor, bill ayers stated needed to be eliminated (killed) for them to reach their utopia? The answer, 25 million my friend, 25 million.

99 posted on 05/12/2012 8:58:53 AM PDT by Two-Bits (Failure to know history is sadly a way to repeat some of the most evil ever done.)
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To: JCBreckenridge
I’ll be supporting Virgil Goode - a pox on both of their houses.

I will not vote for romney or obama but am considering Goode. I just don't know anything about where he stands on the issues, economic, social or foreign affairs.

100 posted on 05/12/2012 8:59:36 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (Romney vs. Obama? One of them has to lose, I'll rejoice in that fact, whichever it is.)
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