Reply #35: After I lost my last teaching job and saw that the available jobs were [View All]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

not worth having, I went free-lance as an editor and translator. That seemed risky at the time, but in the end, it has worked out well. I'm not subjected to the stresses of the U.S. economy, but rather the Japanese economy, which was already in a trough when I got into the field and hasn't changed much, and is in fact improving a little.

However, I have two friends and a relative who have been unemployed long-term. All three are single (one never married, one divorced, one had a partner who died), and all three are over sixty. They all have long, successful work histories, and no one wants them. They even removed indications of age from their resumes and have managed to get interviews on that basis, but they said that they literally can see the interviewer's face fall when they walk into the room in their gray-haired glory.

Relative turned sixty-two, bit the bullet and went on Social Security, and now works part-time as a receptionist. This is enough to keep her from losing her tiny little condo but doesn't allow for any luxuries.

Friend #1 also turned sixty-two and went on Social Security. After much useless job hunting, he now works as a church secretary.

Friend #2 is in the worst shape, having been unemployed for three years and not being old enough for SS. She has used up her retirement savings, sold her house, and applied for literally hundreds of jobs. No luck beyond temp work. Admittedly, she made some foolish spending decisions early in the game, but she never imagined that she would have trouble finding a job, since she had never had trouble before. She is surviving on handouts from relatives.