Young and Old Hit Hardest By Unemployment and Job Losses

September 15th, 2009 by Reed Allmand

According to an article in the Star-Telegram, young people between the ages of 25 and 29 and women over age 55 are being hit hardest by job losses and prolonged unemployment.

The article said:

“Places with high concentrations of people in their late 20s or nearing what they thought would be their retirement age are feeling the recession the hardest, as measured by The Associated Press Economic Stress Index… The groups associated with the highest stress scores in each U.S. county are men and women between ages 25 and 29 and women over age 55. That doesn’t necessarily mean having a high percentage of people in those groups causes a county’s economic health to worsen, though the two appear to go hand in hand.”

These two groups are usually the last to be hired and first to be fired…literally.  Also, this group may be reluctant to file bankruptcy once their financial situation worsens and their unemployed status remains unchanged for a long time.  That’s unfortunate because these two demographics are often the most vulnerable during economic upheavals. But they are by means alone when it comes to high unemployment rates.

The article continued:

“Workers in the 25 to 34 age group have seen the most dramatic rise in unemployment during the past year compared to other age groups. Their unemployment rate went from 5.7 percent in July 2008 to 10 percent in July 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

And many of these young people are facing high debt loans (mostly student loans) upon graduation.  Unfortunately, they can’t discharge their student loans but they may want to consider bankruptcy for other debts such as credit cards.

(source: http://www.star-telegram.com/461/story/1591835.html)