Older job seekers struggling with age barrier

Experts say some employers may be reluctant to hire people they assume are less flexible, more expensive or less agile with technology. Or they fear these workers wouldn't stay long in jobs that pay less than what they earned before, said Deborah Russell, director of workforce issues at AARP.

Such concerns "suggest age discrimination might be playing a role," said Johnson, the Urban Institute fellow. "There is certainly evidence that suggests that employers are reluctant to hire older workers."

Complaints of age bias to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission jumped 29 percent to 24,852 in the year that ended in September, the most recent 12-month period for which figures are available. That's the highest such total on records dating back 16 years. The number of such complaints has continued at a high pace this year, the EEOC said.

Tina Lurie, 49, a Washington, D.C.-based broadcasting technician who was laid off in January, doesn't respond to job listings that note, "Great for recent college graduate," even if the job sounds like a good fit. Those employers, Lurie said, are unlikely to value her 25 years' experience.

Companies are now more likely to make permanent job cuts than in previous recessions, economists say. Industries from autos to financial services won't soon return to their pre-recession employment levels. That shift hurts older workers more, because skills and experience they amassed over many years in one industry are often not relevant to another.

What's more, the severity of the recession has kept more older Americans working past the age when they hoped to retire — or pulled them back into the labor force after they had left. Their 401(k)s have lost years of accumulated savings. Their home equity has shrunk. So older people are now more likely to want to keep working, even after a layoff.

During the 1981-82 recession, older workers were more likely to have pensions that enabled them to take early retirement if they were laid off, Johnson said.

Rapid changes in workplace technology may be another factor, Johnson said. Some employers fear older workers can't keep pace.

Gregg Cygan, a 60-year old graphics consultant based near Chicago, has decades of experience with technology and was a charter member of AOL's e-mail service. Yet he said some people consider his AOL.com e-mail address out of step.

"They only think you're hip if you have a Gmail account," Cygan said, referring to Google's e-mail service.

Job counselors say they remind older workers that networking is even more crucial for them than for younger job-seekers, because their resumes are sometimes undervalued.

Patricia McNally, 58, is following that advice: She's using Web sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Yet one of her most effective tools is decidedly low-tech: her dog, Lola.

After being laid off from a marketing job in Washington, D.C., in December, McNally decided she could no longer afford to pay her dog-walker. Still, the dog-walker forwarded her resume to a communications start-up company. That led to an interview, and while the company isn't yet hiring, McNally thinks she's gained a foothold there.

"You never know where your networking's going to come from," she said.

For his part, Cygan refuses to make any concessions to his age.

"I am who I am," he said.

Cygan's been told many times that he's overqualified for jobs he's applied for. Now, he has a ready reply:

"If you ever replace the head of the department, then get in touch with me," he said.

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