Too Young to Retire and Too Old to Work.
It was bad enough before a pandemic hit.
Are you over 50? Looking for work? Having a hard time getting hired? Maybe you’re over 60 and looking for work. Good luck with that.
There was already a problem with ageism in the workforce. No one hires people over 60. They’re ready to retire. Or they should be.
Then a pandemic hit, and older people were getting the sickest. And dying. In large numbers. Many mistakes were made, driving up the death numbers.
In many cases now, with this fourth wave, add anyone with an underlying health condition. You might not even know there’s a problem, until you get this nasty virus. Being double vaccinated doesn’t help for those with existing health problems. Not with the Delta variant. Some young healthy people are getting really sick. There are some people completely immune. They don’t know why.
Essential services, like grocery store front line workers, needed to be young, and healthy. No one wanted to hire someone that might die from covid. Totally understandable — I don’t want to work there either, I am vulnerable, my husband more so.
Entire industries were almost fully shut down for months. Restaurants, retail, all considered non-essential services.
