Rate of Unemployed Seniors is Rapidly Increasing

The number of long-term unemployed workers aged 55 and older has more than  doubled since the recession began in late 2007, and getting back to work is  increasingly difficult, according to a government report being released on Tuesday.

About 55 percent of jobless seniors, or 1.1 million, have been unemployed for more than six months, up from 23 percent, or less than 200,000, four years earlier, according to a copy of the Government Accountability Office report obtained by Reuters.

The GAO, a non-partisan investigative arm of Congress, also found that years of lost work significantly reduced retirement income, particularly for those with defined contribution retirement plans.

Chicago Tribune Article