Young wait for job slots

Retiree Jim Kosse watched the value of his retirement accounts sink with the stock market. Then he decided to head back to work.

Tony Ault graduated from college in May 2008. He has applied for more than 100 jobs but hasn't landed a full-time career position.

The worst recession since World War II is affecting workers at both ends of the age spectrum.

Older workers such as Kosse, 62, are going back to work or staying in the work force longer because they don't have enough money to retire on or are afraid their savings won't last long enough.

Younger workers such as Ault, 24, are having trouble getting their careers started. Many experts believe that older workers who decide not to retire are crowding out younger workers by preventing normal job movement that opens up entry-level positions.

Federal employment numbers support those worries.

According to the latest labor statistics, the number of employed people age 55 and older has increased since September 2008, despite widespread layoffs.

Employment numbers for all other age groups declined.

For example, 956,000 fewer people ages 20 to 24 held jobs last month compared with September of last year.

At the same time, 362,000 more people age 55 and older held jobs.

While the overall jobless rate is approaching 10 percent nationally, the unemployment rate is highest among young workers.

The recession has accelerated a decades-long “graying” of the work force, according to a report released in September by the Pew Research Center. Most older workers said the main reason they work is a desire to be productive, though a substantial number also said they had delayed retirement because of the recession.

Other factors play a role, too, said Susan Houseman, senior economist at the nonprofit W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

Aging baby boomers may work longer because of a higher retirement age before full Social Security benefits kick in. Pensions are becoming less common, prompting people to stay employed longer to bolster their savings, 401(k) and IRA plans, she said.

The inability of young people to find career jobs could have a lasting adverse impact on their employment and wages, Houseman said. “Instead of finding that first job as a professional, they are out waitering at a restaurant,” she said.

“When the economy finally recovers, what do they have on their résumés? And now they are competing against a new group of graduates. Some people may get back on track, but many don't,” she said.

Kosse believed he was on track for a comfortable retirement when he quit work in March 2007.

Financially, things looked pretty positive, he said. He and his wife, Karen, sold their house in the Elkhorn neighborhood and moved to Iowa's Lake Okoboji, anticipating a life of boating, fishing, golf, tennis and volunteer work through their church.

“After many years of working long hours, it was nice to get up in the morning and do what you wanted to do,” said Kosse, who was a sales representative for online training firm SkillSoft Corp.

The Dow Jones industrial average hit a record high of 14,164 that October. But then came weeks of dramatic ups and downs as economic storm clouds gathered.

Alarmed by the volatility, Kosse said he moved a lot of his retirement money into safer but slower-growing investments. By March 2009, the Dow had dropped more than 50 percent, to 6,547.

The value of his accounts dropped about 20 percent. Many investors took bigger hits, but Kosse's hit was still painful.

While safe, Kosse's conservative investments no longer promised the growth and income to sustain his retirement for the next 30 years. His days turned from relaxing to nerve-racking, he said.

“You're taking a hit on investments, and you're spending money.”

So about 18 months after he retired, Kosse contacted his former employer. The company hired him back in January.

Kosse said he is likely to remain in the work force at least two more years, even as the stock market shows signs of recovering.

“It will be a couple of years before I can recoup what I lost,” Kosse said.

He said he has an office at his lake home, though his job requires extensive travel in six states.

Nonetheless, he's thankful to be working.

“There are a lot of worse things than having to go back to work,” Kosse said — such as not finding a job when you need one.

Across the country, many college graduates faced with a shrinking job pool have simply continued their studies, an alternative Ault said he would have considered if he had the money.

“People who graduated after I did had a clearer understanding of the economy and went on to graduate school,” said Ault, who is single and lives in Lincoln. “I would have gone to grad school. The biggest problem now is finding the money.”

Ault graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a double major in history and political science.

He said he has interviewed for about two dozen jobs over the past two years. Since graduating, he has worked at various part-time jobs, including landscaping and mowing lawns.

Ault said he had a 3.14 grade-point average and work experience as a dispatcher and driver for the university's shuttle bus system, and is a quick study and hard worker.

Still, he has encountered roadblocks in his job search. One major transportation company had a recession-driven hiring freeze. He didn't have the right qualifications for a job as a grain elevator operations manager at another company.

Ault theorizes that older workers are hurting his chances of landing a job.

“I don't necessarily think they are getting jobs we should be getting,” Ault said. “But I feel like they're keeping people from moving up. So a lot of the entry-level jobs are not there.”

Ault said he feels confident in his ability to succeed, once he lands a job.

“The hard part is not getting that chance.”

Contact the writer:

444-1117, joe.ruff@owh.com

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