Unemployment Rate for Older Workers Rises

There's bad news for older workers. The AARP Public Policy Institute says the unemployment rate for people 55 and older rose to 6.5% in March, up from 6.4% the previous month. That works out to an increase of 7,000 in the number of unemployed older workers.

But perhaps more distressing is that the average time an older worker is unemployed rose from 45.5 weeks in February to 51.5 in March.

As of March, more than half of older jobseekers – 54.7% -- have been out of work for 27 or more weeks, AARP said, up from 50.2% in February.

The number of older discouraged workers – those who have given up looking for a job – rose again in March. In December 2007, only 23% of the older unemployed workforce were long-term unemployed. The figure for June 2009 was 38%.

Just under 2 million people 55 or older were unemployed in March. Older people make up about 14.5 percent of the unemployed.

There's one bright spot, however: the unemployment rate for older workers remains lower than the rate for the total labor force, for prime-age workers (ages 25-54) and for the 16-24 crowd.

One reason many older workers have managed to hang onto their jobs is that they make up a larger percent of the population than ever before. In December 2007, there were 69.6 million people over 55 in the United States. As of March 2011, the number was 76.2 million, a 9.4% increase.