It’s hard to forget the wake of the Great Resignation of 2021. With the angst of the state of the world and the pressure to do everything from home, people voluntarily started to leave their jobs. In fact, a whopping 50 million workers quit their jobs in 2022.
It goes without saying that industries—especially those who required their workers to be in person—were hit the hardest by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. But in particular, the pandemic has been financially devastating for older women over the age of 40. According to an AARP study, 40% of women over 40 have experienced at least one job interruption. Out of the pool that were still employed, 70% were out of work for six months or more.
For our male counterparts, aging isn’t necessarily a bad thing: men reach their peak earnings at 55, earning on average $101,200. Having children can also have their perks, putting into place the fatherhood bump. In fact, research shows that men earn 6% more for each child that they have. You might ask yourself how in 2024 can women still be penalized or treated differently in the workplace post having children but men are rewarded? The Age Discrimination in Employee Act of 1967 (ADEA) was put in place to protect employees 40 years and older, regardless of gender. Despite it’s being illegal (and for a long time), age discrimination runs rampant in the workplace. Age related assumptions can wreak havoc on your career, your skillset and true abilities.
But the data out there isn’t all troubling, and there are some age-related silver linings.
The start of the COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly brought on many changes, and made the majority of us out there reassess what we knew and were used to. Work/life balance and drawing better boundaries when it comes to our time at home is something that immediately came into question.
According to a recent Fortune article, women founded more than 150,000 new companies last year. That’s more than twice as many as in 2018, according to NatWest Group’s Rose Review report.
Did you know that the average age of a female entrepreneur is 42? For those who want to set out on the start-up path and are afraid that the clock is ticking, there are a lot of advantages to being an older entrepreneur. Stability and having a defined skillset is extremely important when it comes to running your own show; business expenses add up quickly and a solo entrepreneur has to have enough tools in their toolbox. It’s no secret that women are 5 to 8 more times likely to be affected by caretaking responsibilities, so being an older entrepreneur might also be beneficial when it comes to solving the childcare conundrum.
And in fact, women over 55 are a force to be reckoned with as they are the fastest growing age and gender workforce category. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, 3.6 million women over the age of 55 will be added to the U.S. workforce by 2026 whereas the number of men over 55 still working is projected to decline by 3%.
