Are Baby Boomers Stealing Jobs from the Young? (Part 1)

Townhall.com ^ | May 12, 2012 | Political Calculations

[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:

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!

[doorgunner69]

How much math do you have? :)

Vector Calculus. Kind of need that for electromagnetic theory. Next question?

[redgolum]

Typing with my phone seems to leave words out on occasion, thank you for pointing out my profile is messed up. I will fix that next time I have a real computer ready.

And yes it has been done before. But you would have to be blind to not see it coming here. I don't want euthanasia, and have fought against it. But the society we are in seems to be trending that way.

[Sequoyah101]

They are now in my field. Good ones are almost always in demand just as really good employees are at just about any time.

[Nik Naym]

Ya know sweetheart,

I don’t give two hoots in a holler who you vote for. I won’t condemn you for it unless you vote FOR Obama.

Grow up and knock off harassing the the rest of us who will NOT vote for that socialist flip flopping baby killer supporting looney bird named Romney.

[JCBreckenridge]

So you have less than I do. Good to know.

Next question?

[JCBreckenridge]

Heh, I have tried. Some listen, some do not.

[JCBreckenridge]

What am I supposed to say when this administration is racking up 10 percent deficits, and wants to implement health care ‘reform’, and force my employer to pay for it?

I am supposed to go along meekly an accept it, or fight along with Dolan and overturn policy designed to cripple America.

[Clara Lou]

Grow up and knock off harassing the the rest of us
FRiend, you posted to me first. Don't post to a FReeper if you don't want a response? See? And, YOU don't speak for "the rest of us"? See? And, as for "growing up," follow your own advice.

[Conservative Vermont Vet]

Someone finally noticed what I’ve been saying for a long, long time. Boomers are screwing everyone else over. Not to mention grandfathering pensions so that they get theirs, and everyone else gets nothing.

Excuse me but as a 68 year young Seasoned Citizen, I resemble that remark.

I also have to work, but as I am self-employed, am not "stealing" or taking away anyone else's job and will keep working as long as the Good Lord give's me good health and enough stamina to keep on trucking as my business is one which requires manual (as opposed to Manuel, lol) labor.

In the meantime, all I have to say to you younguns who are castigating and taking us Old Farts to task is this:

[Little Ray]

Illegal aliens take the entry level and part-time jobs that teenagers used to hold.
Old farts like me, who are never going to retire, are holding on the jobs that Gen X or Y or whatever, should be moving up into.

[JCBreckenridge]

Well, it really rankles me that the ‘solution’ to bloated public pensions is to cut off new hires. They are happy to collect from us, still.

What was that about taxation and representation?

[doorgunner69]

Obvious you do not know your arse from a hole in the ground about mathematics. Go away now and play with yourself little man.

[JCBreckenridge]

Sir, you left your “Yes we can” sticker behind.