No Boom Times for Baby Boomers
Baby Boomers, who grew up in the best of times, are experiencing the worst of times as their net worth plummets and jobs become scarce.
The worst economy since the Great Depression is wiping out dollars and sensibilities. For decades, full-time employment was plentiful: Workers switched jobs often and landed raises on the way up the ladder. But the rungs have broke. Those with multiple degrees and the yellowed paycheck stubs from $100,000 positions past can’t find work as janitors. “I have a dream” has lost its gleam. No group understands this more than baby boomers, born in the best of times and now seeing the worst of times. And they already have at least three strikes against them:
1. The stock market crash has virtually wiped out boomers’ net worth, meaning they’ll have to postpone retirement indefinitely – assuming they have something to retire from. And they won’t get much benefit from Social Security, which is expected to buckle under the weight of too much money going out and very little coming in.
2. Some of the big industries boomers grew up with – like manufacturing (of autos, planes, apparel, etc.) print publishing, music and tobacco – have run their course.
3. Jobs will remain scarce long after the economy starts to recover, and companies will prefer younger, hungrier workers with the appropriate skill sets. Going back to school isn’t an option for baby boomers, as college tuition is now only slightly less expensive than what it took to bail out AIG.
The irony, of course, is that the physical decline of those born between 1946 and 1964 will soon mark the ascension of geriatric health care as America’s biggest industry.
RATES DIFFER
OK, enough with the optimism. But things are looking mighty grim as the unemployment rate climbs past 16 percent, according to the broader U-6 measure formulated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS prefers the more conservative U-3 rate (9.5 percent), which is not to be confused with U2 or UB40.
But the U-3 rate fails to take into account people who have stopped looking for work or who can’t find full-time jobs. In fact, according to a New York Times analysis of state-by-state data, the jobless figure is 20 percent in California and 23 percent in Oregon. The West is reeling.
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