Jobless older workers find it difficult to get new jobs

United States, 28th April: For unemployed older people, the road to finding a job is hard and long in the US.

It has been found that older workers might be subject to discrimination due to their growing age and majority of them might not be in a position to demand higher incentives or pay, the experts feel.

Average unemployment period of older workers higher--According to William E. Spriggs, Assistant Secretary, workers in the age group between 55 and 64 years were in search of jobs for 44.6 weeks on an average as per the October statistics.

He revealed these figures while addressing the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The aim of this commission was to know the affect of the economic crisis on the older workers.

Spriggs maintained that the average period of unemployment for the older workers was nearly 11 weeks or greater than the workers in the age group between 25 to 34 years.

For workers in the age group between 20 and 24 years, the average period of joblessness is stated to be around 17 weeks or greater.

Increase in the number of older workers getting jobless compensation--As per the figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of older workers without jobs in Wisconsin getting jobless compensation went up by 19 percent between the years 2006 and 2010.

US economy still reeling under economic crisis--Attorney Victor Forberger reveals that tracking the rates of joblessness among older workers shows that economy is still to emerge fully from the economic crisis. There are still lots of older workers in the age group of 50 years or so searching for jobs in the US, he adds.

Forberger, who heads the Unemployment Appeals Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School and also works as a volunteer consultants for the Job Transition Program says the companies are not looking for hiring the older workers in the US.

Agrees an unemployed who had earlier worked as an insurance salesman before getting fired last year. He adds that the number of unemployed older workers in the US might be even higher than shown by the official figures since many have stopped asking for unemployment benefits.