America's youngest workers aren't faring well either. In March, the unemployment rate for U.S. workers ages 16 to 24 hit 16.3%. But these youths aren't saddled with mortgages and dependents to the same degree as their elders, nor do they have the same medical and retirement concerns.
And though joblessness among older workers is lower than that of the overall labor force, it is growing much faster. In March, 6.2% of workers 55 and older were unemployed, up from 3.4% in March 2008.
For mature workers who spent years building up stellar credentials and largely defined themselves by their careers, the ego-crushing inactivity of unemployment can be unbearable, said Steven J. Greenberg, founder of Jobs 4.0, a listings site for job seekers over age 40.
"For many, it's a brutal experience -- like going through a divorce," he said.
Up until two years ago, Mitchell had worked steadily since joining General Motors Corp. in 1968 as a production foreman straight out of college. He eventually gravitated to sales and marketing, where he figures he has sold more than $150 million worth of consumer products over the years, including toothpaste and trash bags.
In 2006 when his brother took ill, Mitchell took a leave from his job as a national sales manager at a brokerage representing pharmaceutical and healthcare products suppliers to run the family grocery business in Connecticut. When he returned to Southern California the next year, he said, he found himself squeezed out of the full-time job that had paid more than $100,000 annually.
He's been looking ever since.
The daily hunt begins around 7 a.m. in his tidy home office, where Mitchell scans online job leads. He admits he isn't a whiz with computers. Secretaries at his previous posts handled that. Many positions now require Excel and PowerPoint fluency, skills he's trying to master with help from friends.
"It's not that I didn't want to learn -- I just never needed it," he said.
Robust and gregarious, he projects the earnest enthusiasm of a born salesman. But gone are the days of cornering an executive in an elevator and pitching yourself in person.
Over the last two years, Mitchell has blown through $80,000 in retirement savings to cover his mortgage and living expenses. He has retreated from his large social network, save for the occasional Friday-morning coffee with friends. The sunny mask is starting to slip.
