cross posted at My Left Wing

My father faced a layoff in 1970, the year he turned 55. For the three weeks leading up to the event, Dad was a wreck. “Danny,” he said to me, “if I get laid off, I’ll never work again.”

I was laid off in 2009, the year I turned 55. Silly me, I thought that, since this is the 21st century, all that ageist crap was done. Hah!

Even in this “enlightened” era, if you’re over 50 and you’ve been out of work for more than 9 months (way more for me), nobody wants to hire you.

Approaching the third anniversary of being laid off, I’ve thought a lot about jobs and what’s become the new normal.