Who is suffering most in the recession?

We are getting very different data from the US and the UK at present. We have already posted on a recent Merrill Lynch report from the US stating that the younger generations are being hit the most by the recession. Again The New York Times reports that the age group 35-44 lost over a million jobs, the age group 55-64 gained over half a million over the past few months. Yet in the UK Age Concern are reporting that in the last quarter unemployment among those aged over 50 was up by 27 per cent. For a worker aged 24 to 49, the increase was just eight per cent.

The survey by ICM, commissioned by Age Concern, found that half of those over 55 are worried that they are more at risk of losing their job because of their age. We can understand the worry but worry is not always reflected by the facts.

So many groups have their own political angle on this issue and it is difficult to truly analyse as it is usually not possible to get access to the actual research data without paying large sums of money. We rely on what we read in newspapers and online journals. Please let us know of any new data that you come across in relation to this crucial topic.