The Incidence of Job Loss : The Shift from Younger to Older Workers, 1981-1996

The relationship between job loss and age is examined using CPS Displaced Worker Supplements from 1984-1998. Job loss rates of full-time workers aged 25-39 and 45-59 are compared by gender and, within gender, by education, occupation, and industry. Differences-in-differences and regression analyses indicate that the historic relative advantage of older workers declined over this period, but only among men. Job loss among younger men dropped fairly steadily from 1981-82 through the early 1990's recession and thereafter, while rates of older men, especially blue-collar workers, fell until the later 1980's then increased sharply to match those of younger workers throughout the 1990's. These findings suggest that factors specific to the 1990's recession may have accounted for the decline in the long-standing practice of inverse-seniority layoffs