The Impact of Worker Age on Unemployment and Earnings After Plant Closings

This study examined how older workers who lost jobs due to a plant closing or plant move fared in the reemployment market. The data are from the January 1984 Current Population Survey, which included special questions focusing on displaced workers. Accelerated failure time equations are estimated to determine the relationships between age and duration without work following job loss. Regression equations explaining subsequent earnings also are estimated. Although older workers have lower overall unemployment rates than younger workers, those displaced due to a plant closing or move do not fare as well as their younger counterparts. Median length of unemployment for those age 55 and over was 27 weeks, which compared unfavorably to the 13 weeks found for workers under age 45. When controlling for other worker characteristics, older workers were found to experience more than four additional weeks of unemployment and earn less upon reemployment than younger workers.