It’s hard to see how any sector of the labor force isn’t being effected by the current recession. The depth and breadth of it cuts across demographics. But, the poles of young and old are being hit particularly hard by the declining economy of the past decade. The AARP has a release titled “Last Decade Spelled Disaster For Older Workers” and Newsweek has an article by Robert J. Samuelson titled “The Real Generation Gap: Young adults are getting slammed” that help illustrate this point. Here is an excerpt for the AARP release:

The new analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by AARP’s Public Policy Institute shows a dramatic 331.4% increase in the number of unemployed Americans age 55+ and over from January 2000 through December 2009. For age 65+ workers, the increase in the number of unemployed was lower, but still a massive 235%.

During this 10-year period, the number of people unemployed individuals age 55+ increased from 490,000 to 2,114,000. The number of unemployed individuals age 65+ jumped from 143,000 to 479,000.

And here is an excerpt from the Newsweek article:

The deep slump has hit millennials hard. According to Pew, almost two fifths of 18- to 29-year-olds (37 percent) are unemployed or out of the labor force, “the highest share…in more than three decades.” Only 41 percent have a full-time job, down from 50 percent in 2006. Proportionately, more millennials have recently lost jobs (10 percent) than those 30 and older (6 percent). About a third say they’re receiving financial help from their families, and 13 percent of 22- to 29-year-olds have moved in with parents after living on their own.

(Check out Ryan Schierling’s work.)