Adventures at Midlife

The NYTimes has an interesting article about how the economic downturn is turning out to be gender-neutral:

Across the country, women in their prime earning years, struggling with an unfriendly economy, are retreating from the work force, either permanently or for long stretches…

When economists first started noticing this trend two or three years ago, many suggested that the pullback from paid employment was a matter of the women themselves deciding to stay home — to raise children or because their husbands were doing well or because, more than men, they felt committed to running their households.

But now, a different explanation is turning up in government data… After moving into virtually every occupation, women are being afflicted on a large scale by the same troubles as men: downturns, layoffs, outsourcing, stagnant wages or the discouraging prospect of an outright pay cut. And they are responding as men have, by dropping out or disappearing for a while.

The trend cuts across all economic, racial and age groups, says the Times article, which noted that median women’s wages have dropped over the past several years and that women are still being paid at least $2/hour less than men.

Not exactly the equality breakthrough we have been hoping for, eh? I suspect that women of a certain age may be more vulnerable to this type of job downsizing, particularly if they have amassed any seniority or retirement income potential. Older men have been open to that sort of job action for a long time.

According to a study by Cathy Stenzal and Sally Steenland,

Because of low wages and meager benefits during their working lives, many older women retire on an inadequate retirement income. Four out of five women have no pension at all. Government statistics claiming that older women have lower unemployment rates than do younger women mask the significant numbers of older women who have ceased looking for work because of prolonged, unsuccessful job searches.

With this current economic downturn, my midlife friends are still making the same jokes about ending up as a greeter at Wal-Mart or Costco, but they’re doing it through clenched teeth. It isn’t particularly funny anymore. Their pension potential is being rocked, and the possibility of having to make do with less retirement income or else supplementing it with more work is very, very real. “I’ll be here until I’m 70,” sighed one co-worker.

I don’t want to believe that the news is all grim. Midlife women have a great deal to offer a new or continuing employer in terms of life experience, loyalty and stability. My particular site is big on something it calls “institutional memory,” which gives a more global view to the workplace and allows new developments to be put in a historical context. Some new problems are often just manifestations of old, on-going problems, and treating them as such can save a lot of time and angst. And MSNBC reports that, over the next decade, labor forecasts show the ranks of workers over-55 growing at an annual rate of four percent, four times faster than the labor force as a whole.

Women Work!, the national network for women’s employment based in Washington, D.C., has a number of recommendations for older women in the workforce, in particular exploring flexible work options as they near retirement. “Getting health and pension benefits in part-time or reduced hours is not guaranteed,” the site warns. “Talk with your employer about what you will be gaining and what you will be giving up before making any changes.”

AARP also has a good site on issues facing workers age 50+, with a particularly interesting article on non-traditional jobs for older women:

For example, women hold fewer than 5 percent of jobs as carpet installers, pest control workers, and shuttle car operators. Fewer than 15 percent of concierges, parts salespersons, or meter readers are women. And even the jobs of upholsterers, computer programmers, and detectives have fewer than 25 percent women employees.

My mother, who worked part-time when she did work, lived comfortably on her small investments and Social Security until nearly the end of her life. But it’s just not in the cards for me and many of my peers. If we are to make our way forward, I believe we’ll need new thinking and new options. Non-traditional jobs, flexible work time and new approaches to living and managing our lives are all worth considering.

What are your fears about the economic downturn? Is your financial house in order? What adjustments have you been forced to make?

This entry was posted on July 26, 2008 at 6:10 am and is filed under Adventures at midlife, Money, Women.

Tags: Adventures at midlife, Employment, Money, Women