In 2016 only 17% of the women labor force were 45-54 years of age. This estimate for the same age range is flat for the year 2024. What is interesting is that 5% of the women workforce is aged 65+ and is estimated to grow to 8.1% in 2024, a 47% increase in 8 years! With the current US healthcare crises and employers not hiring and/or getting rid of seasoned professionals, this paints a dreary picture for most of the population. So why are employers not hiring and/or getting rid of seasoned professionals?
In a Harvard Business Review article, it is suggested that there seem to be two reasons with regard to older women in the workforce: Age discrimination and society’s focus on the physical appearance of women. I would add a third suggestion, that being health care: the cost, and the perceived cost as the middle-aged employee continues to age. And, as we all know, shit happens as you get older. This is all very sad and scary for those of us in our middle-years, but also for employers who are focusing their recruiting efforts on younger employees and in-turn are missing out on hiring a person who has seasoned skills, a mature attitude towards work and a work-ethic that has been honed over the years.
I have worked since the age of 12. Yes, 12! (That’s me in the picture working on my typing at the age of 7.) I worked in my mother’s answering service, answering phones and doing other odd jobs that needed to be done. I didn’t go to college but was paying my own bills by the age of 17. I started my advertising career as a receptionist for a major magazine. Through the years and a lot of hard work and perseverance, I had climbed from a receptionist to working in sales for one of the most successful and prestigious companies in the world. I had made it! All my hard work had paid off…and I hated it! It was amazing to me that I had worked so hard to get myself to the top of the “ladder” only to find I really didn’t want to be there. But what do you do? Well, the decision was made for me when that company years later laid-off many people, me included. I then went to work for another company in sales because that is what I needed to do to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. I was offered an opportunity within that company to step out of my comfort zone and take on a different role, one in which I defined and refined for over 7 years. I enjoyed my work tremendously, loved the company I worked for and then I was laid-off last week.
Now, here I am a 53 year-old single mother with a teenage daughter at home. I now have to reenter the workforce where I’m competing with Millennials and younger women and men who will be looked upon more favorably then myself strictly because of my age.
This is a daunting situation that I’m trying to come to grips with. There is a bit of a war going on inside me. I have the one side that is devastated, hurt, scared and overwhelmed at the task at hand. Then there is the other side that is hopeful and wanting to explore new things, shake up my life, and do something completely different. I am trying very hard to stay positive and keep saying the mantras “all will be well”, “everything happens for a reason”, “One door shuts and another opens.”
In my research I have found a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel: Olderpreneur. I think that term will end up in an online urban dictionary sooner than later. In the Financial Times article Over 50s Are The New Business Start-Up Generation they discuss the very issues that are plaguing myself and those of my generation. It outlines how they are using their 401Ks (you can now access them at age 55) or borrowing against them to start their own businesses. This is something that interests me and allows the positive side of my inner war to do a little dance.
Until my next post, here is my advice to those of you in your 20s or 30s or even 40s: SAVE YOUR MONEY! Put as much as you can into your 401K, savings, etc.