Long-term unemployment among older workers has been a major concern
TRENTON -- Clifford Biroc has a master's in business and years of financial experience working for both nonprofits and Fortune 500 companies.
But downsizing and reorganizations forced him to change jobs seven times in the last 18 years and now, he's been without a job since June 2014.
Biroc, 61, has gone through his savings and cash brokerage account and has had to dip into his I.R.A. twice to help him support his family of five.
"Trying to maintain one's sanity and keeping motivated is very difficult," said Biroc, who has continued to network and sought help at the Mercer County One-Stop Career Center and the New Start Career Network in New Brunswick.
Biroc is part of a group that has found it increasingly difficult to find a job: workers who are older than 55 and have been without a job for more than 27 weeks.
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12th Dist.) announced she was introducing legislation that she hopes will help those like Biroc.
"The older, long-term unemployment individuals have a harder chance of getting a job," she said.
N.J.'s long-term jobless rate remains high
Employers, she said, often pass them over either because of their age or they assume their skills or technological know-how have become rusty.
Watson Coleman is proposing two bills. The first would allow the long-term unemployed to withdraw from their retirement accounts early without having to face penalties and the second would create a work opportunity tax credit for employers to incentivize them to hire older, long-term unemployed individuals.
"The inability to get jobs for older workers have different kinds of implications that devastates them at a later part of their lives," she said, pointing to depression and homelessness as among the issues facing them. "After they've worked so many years of their lives, we need to incentivize employers to hire them."
Biroc said he has had difficulty landing a job in part because of his age and the stigma that is attached to having so many jobs in so many years.
"Companies don't want to hire you because you're considered a job hopper even though it was no fault of my own," he said. "And the fact that I've been out of work for several months ... it's a no-win situation."
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.