Job Loss and The Older Worker. Older workers who lose their jobs tend to fall into one of two very different adjustment patterns.
Some older workers find new jobs with little or no interruption to their work routine.
Others languish on the sidelines without work for prolonged periods - some unable to find new jobs for two years or more and needing significant assistance to obtain that new work. These patterns were one of the key findings in a recent study of job loss and adjustment experiences of workers aged 45 and over conducted by Kelly Morrison, a senior policy analyst with Strategic Policy, Human Resources Development Canada. It confirmed that older workers, as a group, are far less likely to experience job loss than their younger counterparts. But when they do lose their jobs, older workers tend to remain unemployed longer. Education, location and industry - Older job losers were more likely not to have finished high school, to have lived in Atlantic Canada, and to have been employed in either the construction, manufacturing or primary industries than younger job losers.