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!

[Maudeen]

Stars & Stripes Forever,
One only has to look at the support or rather lack of support the USA is giving to Israel. “Final Retirement” for all may very well be SOONER rather than later!

---

I don’t think you have to worry. http://www.patburt.com/

[jveritas]

This has nothing to do with the Obama administration being a boon for workers 55+...It has to do that many folks are not retiring at the age of 65 because they need the money due to the bad economic times.

Also companies are trying to keep their older, more experienced, and more productive work force.

[spaced]

“Or, are baby-boomers being “given the shaft” for being so bold as to exist?”

Bingo! In the last few years, the elderly have been blamed for everything from the national debt to hang-nails. Death panels have been proposed to keep them from living too long. Most of the baby-boomers think their parents are targeted; it’s really them.

[Paladin2]

Soylent Green IS JCBreckenridge.

[ak267]

This is what happens when “hope and change” wants to manage “artificial scarcities” and pit one group against the other.

In a booming/healthy economy this sort of thing isn’t a big issue.

[wtc911]

Boomers are screwing everyone else over...

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Yeah, those bastards...using their experience and work ethic to their own advantage!

[jveritas]

Yep this is a dumb article and the writer should not embarrass himself and writes part 2 and 3 on this subject. Boomers are working because they need to work and many are not retiring at the age of 65 because of the bad economic times we are living in. Also many companies prefer now the older, more experienced, more productive work force over the inexperienced and very entitled mentality of younger workers who they think they are going to make huge salaries by barely working and in the first two years of their jobs... Moreover a majority of college graduates today have worthless arts degrees that are not worth a shit.

[wtc911]

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)...

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Advice from a hated boomer ----- Stop crying, grow a pair and make your own opportunities....iow, Grow the Eff Up.

And, frankly, if you have so orchestrated your life that your standard of living is below that of a welfare recipent...well...I don't see much hope for you.

[Clara Lou]

Ever think that the older generation should be teaching the younger generation instead of despising and ignoring us?
That's such a strange thing to say. I'm part of that "older generation," and the parent of 4 members of the younger generation. I certainly don't despise or ignore them. And I sincerely doubt that I am alone that.

[jveritas]

What is your degree?

[Freddd]

‘the biggest beneficiaries from the economic recovery are Boomers’-

There is no economic recovery.

and the only ones to benefit have been the Obama’s.

He’s making more money, has more vacations, plays more golf, and lives in a bigger house. And when his wife goes on a shopping spree with her girlfriends, it’s to Spain on the taxpayer’s dime.

Not everyone has skin in the game or eat their peas.

[wtc911]

You know, sometimes us “kids” don’t have a damn choice when there are NO JOBS for us.

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Move to where there are jobs...what the hell do you think previous generations did?

[dalereed]

Go flip a burger so at least you will be paying for my Social Security.

At 75 I want to collect for at least another 15 years.

[HotKat]

Boomer hubby and I continue to work because we’re terrified that our frugally saved 401 K’ s will be robbed. I say I’ll contine to work until I die. We’re “squirrels.” Also, my 84-year old father continues to work part-time, for the fun of it at a golft resort. His bumper sticker reads: will work for golf.

[Kenton]

OK, are "boomers" terrible parasites who are robbing the young by retiring and collecting a Social Security check they paid for over the course of a lifetime of work, or are they heartless bastards for denying the "Occupy" crowd jobs by not retiring, because they know that Social Security probably isn't enough to live on?

I'm having a hard time knowing what I should hate them for, one of those reasons, or for having raised a bunch of self-entitled whiners who seem to just want them to die off so the kids can get their stuff...

[dfwgator]

Jobs belong to the company, not to the workers.

[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.

[discostu]

Nobody steals jobs. The boomers have experience and skills, the primary thing the young bring to the market is being cheap and willing to work lots of overtime. In some cycles the market prefers the former, in other cycles the later.

[wtc911]

I can take my first SS check in a few months. I will. and I will keep working too...something I've been doing non-stop since 1967 when I took a part-time job at a restaurant in HS.

I'll take the tax hit but I'll use the net and do whatever the heck I want with it.

[stars & stripes forever]

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