After the Great Recession, older Americans are out of work at record rates and for longer periods of time than ever before. Boomers, who  began turning 65 last year, were born into a postwar era of prosperity and optimism., but the economic downturn and its aftermath upset the expectations held by many members of this iconic generation. Today’s unemployed boomers anticipate living longer than prior generations, but are not well prepared to do so. As their needs escalate, government at all levels is cutting back on programs and services to reduce budget deficits, while globalization races ahead.

OVER 50 AND OUT OF WORK

is an ongoing multimedia project that documents the stories and the impact of the Great Recession on jobless Americans, 50 and older. The stories that boomers tell are not only about the hardships they have faced due to joblessness, but also about their hopes and fears, their expectations and disappointments, their resilience and their dreams. Their individual stories combine into a remarkable mosaic of experiences that captures the past 50 years of seismic social and economic changes in American history. Their lives have been shaped by the Sixties, Vietnam, the civil rights movement, the decline of U.S. manufacturing, Reaganomics, corporate mergers and restructuring, outsourcing, 9/11 and globalization.

Boomers, often regarded as self-centered and indulgent, have left a distinct impact on the United States as they have navigated their way through the turbulent social and economic history of the country’s past half century.

Unexpected depths of courage, faith, perseverance and resilience emerge out of the lives of the boomer generation.

MISSION

Our broader, long-term mission is to help people who are OVER 50 AND OUT OF WORK get back into the labor force by improving the cultural perception of older workers and by influencing public policy changes that will make it easier for them to find re-employment.

COMING NEXT

OVER 50 AND OUT OF WORK has completed the interviewing portion of our multimedia project, and we are now editing our feature-length documentary.  The film will focus on three of our original 100 interviewees, who are all over 50 years of age and lost their jobs as a result of the Great Recession.

The film’s three main characters struggle with the most common difficulties that our 100 interviewees have experienced – the shock of sudden, unexpected joblessness; worries about paying bills, especially mortgage payments; loss of health insurance; a prolonged and frustrating job search; depleted or exhausted savings, as well as diminished optimism about the future.  They each resolve or adapt to the devastating impact of extended unemployment on their lives differently, but the issues of health insurance coverage and homeownership dominate their concerns and fears, as they do for many Americans who are 50-plus and jobless.

Please stay tuned for more updates and videos as we make progress on our film!