Workers Over 50 Are The New 'Unemployables'

By Annalyn Kurtz

On one hand, they're too young to retire. They may also be too old to get re-hired. Call them the "new unemployables," say researchers at Boston College.

Older workers were less likely to lose their jobs during the recession, but those who were laid off are facing far tougher conditions than their younger colleagues. Workers in their fifties are about 20 percent less likely than workers ages 25 to 34 to become re-employed, according to an Urban Institute study published last year.