• It's a tough job market out there, and experienced workers are not exempt.
• Some older Americans just want a few more years of work to boost retirement savings or stay busy.
• The jobs that are available don't pay enough to make them worthwhile, job seekers said.

Gino Marconi is struggling to secure full-time work, and it's messing with his retirement plans.

Marconi, who's 64 and lives in Plantation, Florida, earned $60,000 annually as a sales representative for an outdoor supply company until two years ago, when he resigned due to the stress of working long days on the road. Marconi previously held engineering jobs that paid more.

Since then, he said he's applied to over 600 remote and in-person roles across various industries and skill levels. He suspects many positions have rejected him because he's overqualified, and he's removed the years he's completed some degrees and certifications from some applications.

Marconi said he hopes to retire in a few years and rely on Social Security income, but his plans could change if he's unable to find higher-paying work.

"My home is paid off, my cars are paid off," Marconi said. "But I need to keep going until I get back to work."

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As many Americans reach retirement age, they don't find themselves coasting into their golden years as easily as they may have hoped. Instead, as hundreds of older Americans told Business Insider in responses to reader surveys about work and retirement, they find themselves once again on the job market. Maybe they got laid off or quit a career due to health issues. Either way, they need just a few more years to reach a comfortable financial position — and it's tough out there for job seekers.

To be sure, the unemployment rate for Americans age 55 and older was just 3% as of January, compared to 4% for all workers. But for people of all ages who don't have jobs, the hiring landscape has become more challenging in recent years. Excluding a two-month pandemic-related dip in 2020, US businesses are hiring at nearly the lowest rate since 2013, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

In response to his job search struggles, Marconi is working part-time with a transportation company for a hotel chain and said he's taken steps to become a full-time insurance agent. He said he's grown frustrated with the application process — he recalled getting stood up at an interview — but is remaining optimistic while cutting back on unnecessary spending.

"I don't know when I'll retire because Social Security is not going to be enough," Marconi said, adding he's pickier about the roles he applies for. "My wife used to say I should do whatever increases my income, but I'm not going to work as an engineer making no money."

Working later in life for extra security

Some older Americans told BI that even though they could technically retire, they're holding out because they fear their savings and retirement income won't be sufficient if unexpected costs arise.

David F., 67, has been looking for work since last October — when he anticipated he would soon be laid off from his aerospace industry job. The layoff ultimately came in January.

Of the nearly 1,700 submitted applications he's tracked since beginning his job search, only 4% have yielded interviews, and none have amounted to a job offer yet. He said he's frequently encountered ghost jobs or positions with similar job descriptions to previous roles but significantly less pay.

"They're either looking for a unicorn and never finding it, or there's not really a position there, but they want to look like they're hiring," said David, who lives in Washington and asked to withhold his last name due to ongoing late-stage job interviews.

David doesn't have a firm retirement goal, but he hopes to retire within the next 5 to 10 years, assuming he finds a suitable position. After working in project management for nearly three decades, David briefly retired but returned to work to bolster his finances when the pandemic caused economic uncertainty. He said he's looking for work now because earning additional income would help him live more comfortably and stress less about retirement savings.

"My situation is not desperate, and although I've made mistakes in my retirement savings in the past, I'm not making those mistakes," David said.

David said he also wants to keep working to stay busy. He's among the older Americans who desire to keep working for reasons other than finances.

"There are the people that love their job, working or even volunteering," said Deb Whitman, AARP's chief public policy officer, adding, "There's sort of a social connection, a sense of purpose and meaning that people get."

Some older Americans' jobs are more crucial. While they hope to retire in the next few years, it's far from guaranteed.

In December 2022, David Schanen was laid off from his network engineer job. Over the last three years, he's struggled to find high-paying work in his industry.

"There's a lot of work for things that I'm qualified for, but people are paying like $25 an hour," said Schanen, who's 64 and based in Seattle. He said his network engineer job paid about $200,000 annually.

Schanen said he hopes to sell the two side businesses he started over the past decade and retire sometime in the next couple of years. However, he said his real estate photography and virtual concert businesses have only generated roughly $100,000 in combined revenues to date — not nearly enough to make his significant financial investments in them feel worthwhile.

Schanen's uncertain retirement outlook is why he's continued exploring other job opportunities. About six months ago, he began driving for Uber about 40 hours a week. He said he's frustrated with the gig's pay, but that it's given him the flexibility to control his own working hours and dedicate time to his businesses.

"Right now what I'm doing is just kind of keep helping me stay afloat," he said.

• Older Americans are facing career setbacks due to caregiving for aging parents, impacting finances.
• Many quit jobs or reduced their hours, unable to afford nursing homes for their loved ones.
• Some told Business Insider they weren't able to land back on their feet after taking years off.

Many older Americans are facing a difficult choice: leave behind a career they've built for decades to care for their parents, or stay at their job and cover the high cost of care.

In the late 1990s, Maylia Tsen's parents moved from New York to live with her in Southern California. Tsen said her mother was facing several health issues and that her area offered better access to healthcare. Tsen continued to work full-time as a VP of sales and marketing, but eventually, it became too difficult to balance the role with her caregiving responsibilities. Around 2005, she left the job she'd spent years working toward, which she said paid more than $150,000 annually.

"I couldn't take full-time hours," said Tsen, 63. "I couldn't make that commitment because I never knew what was going to happen with them."

About two dozen older Americans told Business Insider in responses to reader surveys about work and retirement that they moved, quit their jobs, or switched to a part-time work schedule to care for their parents. Many made the decision because taking on caregiving themselves was the most economical option, as they couldn't afford the high costs of nursing homes or other long-term care for their parents.

They're now earning less since they reentered the labor market or are struggling to get hired in the industries they worked in before stepping away.

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The most recent data on unpaid caregiving from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that over the combined years of 2021 and 2022, about 9 million or 21% of 55- to 64-year-olds provided eldercare, referring to unpaid care provided by family or friends to those 65 or older. This demographic did about four hours on average of eldercare each day.

A 2021 AARP report found, based on a survey of 2,380 caregivers, that they spent on average $7,242 annually of their own money. Among the 1,415 working caregivers in the survey, 29% had to take paid time off from work in the past year because of caregiving.

"It's been a real financial challenge and burden," said Tsen. "Caregiving has taken a toll on me, financially, physically, and mentally."

Tsen's mother died 11 years ago, but she still cares for her 97-year-old father. To facilitate her caregiving, she's turned down higher-paying work in favor of lower-paying jobs that offered her the flexibility she needed. To pay the bills, she's had to draw upon her savings and retirement funds.

Struggling to land work after a pause

Some people have continued to face career obstacles after scaling back their caregiving responsibilities. D. Peterson, 65, applied for jobs unsuccessfully for a year and a half after taking three years off to care for her mother.

Peterson, who lives in Georgia and asked to obscure her first name to protect her family's privacy, often switched jobs and worked as a leasing consultant, administrative assistant, and real-estate agent throughout her career. She made enough to live comfortably but called herself a "poor money manager" and said she didn't prepare well for retirement. Because of her financial situation and her mother's health, she moved in with her in 2010.

At the start of the pandemic, she quit her job where she was earning $40,000 annually to care full time for her mom, who was in her mid-80s. Once her siblings became more involved with caretaking in 2023, Peterson looked for work — only to realize that landing a role with a three-year gap and being close to retirement age would be challenging.

She wasn't familiar with the new hiring technology like online interviews, and there weren't many administrative assistant roles remotely or in her area. The available ones had hundreds of applicants. And because she switched industries during her career, she said she couldn't prove her authority in one field as easily.

Peterson landed a job at a library a month ago, which pays $11 an hour, but she injured her ankle two weeks in and said she's applying elsewhere. She doesn't foresee herself being able to retire as she relies on her $1,600 monthly Social Security checks.

"I'm trying to save as much as I can and finally put myself on a budget, but my main concern now is my mom, who's losing her memory and eyesight but doesn't want to go into assisted living," Peterson said. "It's hard to stay motivated when you feel like you don't have the skills or face age discrimination."

The labor market has been difficult for job seekers in general, including for older Americans, some of whom have taken huge pay cuts after a layoff or voluntary departure. Additionally, even though the unemployment rate is historically low, hiring rates have slipped from more than 4% a few years ago to 3.3% and 3.4% in recent months.

Rita Choula, senior director of caregiving for AARP Public Policy Institute, told BI that more companies should aim to support caregivers. This can look like offering leave for caregivers or changes to company culture to normalize caring for an older adult.

"It's great that you have vacation leave, but we really want caregivers who are under enough stress to be able to take that time for them to rest and reset," Choula said.

Only finding limited work options

Older Americans told BI that caregiving meant sacrificing career opportunities that didn't work with their schedules, often adversely affecting their finances.

"Many employed caregivers face strain in managing both caregiving and work responsibilities simultaneously," the AARP report said. "These consequences can lead to reduced job security, fewer employment opportunities, and ultimately, lower retirement savings."

In 2017, Robin, who asked to use her first name for fear of professional repercussions, sold her condo in the DC area and moved into a nearby one-bedroom apartment with her legally blind mother. She had just been laid off from her government relations job.

Robin, 62, said caring for her mother has had lasting effects on her career and earnings. To help pay the bills, Robin said she worked various retail jobs, including as a cashier at Walgreens. She said this income wasn't sufficient, and she had to deplete much of her savings and 401(k).

"During that time, I was unable to hold anything more than a part-time job," she said.

In 2022, Robin's mother died, which allowed her to pursue full-time government relations roles. But, despite her roughly 20 years of industry experience, she said she struggled to land a job.

"Employers just see the gap on your résumé, and they don't realize that your time was spent productively, but in a very different way," she said.

In September 2022, Robin enrolled in the Senior Community Service Enrollment program, which helps unemployed older people find work. She said the program helped her land a part-time data analytics role with the National Council on Aging — which she started in October 2023 — and that she's interviewing for a full-time position with the organization.

"I'm really hoping the job comes through," she said, adding, "I definitely have to recover my finances."

• Laid-off workers are taking lower-paying jobs amid a tough job market for white-collar roles.
• Many workers struggle to regain previous salary levels post-layoff.
• More than 800 people who experienced long periods of unemployment shared their frustrations with BI.

Some Americans who were laid off from high-paying jobs are responding to a tougher job market for white-collar workers by accepting a much lower-paying or lower-level role than they previously had.

Bill Rees, 65, said he earned about $130,000 annually as a hotel general manager, but after a layoff last year, he's struggled to secure anything in that pay range.

Rees now earns about $25 an hour at a property management company in Wisconsin, where he moved to care for his mother. He said bills are tight, and his high Medicare insurance premium is straining his finances. He said he doesn't spend much time looking for other jobs after hundreds of applications, though he's continuing to work hard to make ends meet.

"I just can't afford anything anymore," Rees said. "I anticipate having to work until at least 20 years after I'm dead to make it all come out even."

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Rees is one of many Americans who have had difficulty finding work recently. Since October, more than 800 recent job seekers between ages 18 and 76 responded to Business Insider's informal, nonrepresentative surveys on job hunting and shared their stories with reporters through emails.

Struggling to make ends meet

Jamie Jewell, 58, worked in public relations and administrative assistant roles and made about $50,000 at the peak of her career with a company car and benefits. Between layoffs, she held temporary jobs as a radio producer and defensive driving instructor, though she's struggled over the past few years to find stable employment that pays her bills.

Jewell faced a divorce in 2016 that set her back financially, and she moved in with her uncle six years ago when finances got tight.

Jewell, who's based in the Dallas area, makes about $1,000 monthly answering phones for a generator company and cares for her dad and uncle. She said she has no money to retire or financially assist her children, and she plans to continue working. Despite hundreds of unsuccessful applications, she said she's holding onto hope that she'll land something better-paying.

"In a corporate restaurant interview, a bunch of people in their 20s and early 30s came into the room and immediately looked at me, starting to grow gray hair, and their faces fell because even though I was perfect for the position, they wanted somebody younger," Jewell said.

BI previously reported that older Americans often had regrets about their careers, such as not prioritizing education and switching jobs too often. Statistics show it's often harder for older Americans to return to a comparable role after a layoff. Contributing to that is what some see as age discrimination. In a 2022 survey conducted by AARP, 64% of people over 50 say they'd either experienced or witnessed workplace age discrimination.

The struggles of those laid off and seeking work have been partly driven by a hiring slowdown in the US. Excluding a two-month pandemic-related dip in 2020, US businesses are hiring at the lowest rate since 2013, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Per the BLS, about 1.6 million people had been looking for work for at least six months as of December, up from 1.3 million a year prior.

To be sure, the unemployment rate remains low compared with historical levels, and the layoff rate remains low, according to BLS data.

How to navigate a tough job market

Cam, 60, worked as a graphic designer and tech manager, making in the mid-$200,000 range before a layoff in June 2023, followed by a rescinded offer. After 18 months, he took a vice president of marketing position for a plumbing company in November — an upgrade in title but with a salary in the high five figures, less than half his previous role.

"I regret allowing myself to get pigeonholed within a single industry, as I think that has made my time getting re-employed particularly difficult because I was entirely in the technology industry," Cam said.

Cam, who asked to use his first name due to ongoing salary negotiations, said he may not have struggled as much with applications if he diversified his résumé. He's struggled to find work in the six figures, and finances are tighter than he anticipated. Still, he said he's hopeful he will land a position meeting his salary expectations and has enough to stay afloat.

In a challenging labor market, accepting a lower-paying or lower-level job can serve as a "career stepping stone rather than a step back," Jennifer Herrity, a career expert at Indeed, told BI.

Herrity said that workers who accept jobs quite different from their desired role should use the opportunity to gain experience, develop skills, and network effectively. When applying for roles, Herrity said that job seekers could consider excluding a role from their résumé if they think it's completely unrelated to their desired role.

Andrew McCaskill, a career expert at LinkedIn, said taking a "bridge job" can help people "stay connected to the workforce, gain experience, and avoid résumé gaps, which can ultimately make it easier to land your desired role when the job market improves."

However, this career decision comes with risks. McCaskill said accepting a lower-paying role could have long-term implications on earnings, as it could take a while for someone to work up to their prior salary. Additional challenges could come with taking a significantly different job "if the skills and experience gained cannot easily transfer to the roles you're pursuing," he said.

Individuals who transition to lower-level roles within their industry could have a better chance of bouncing back. Scott Fite began looking for IT roles when he was laid off from his systems analyst job last April. He said he spent a couple of hours every day applying for jobs but had little luck.

"I applied to everything that I could be considered qualified for, even if it might have been an inconvenient commute," Fite, who's in his 60s and based in Pennsylvania, told Business Insider.

When Fite's severance payments ended in October, he was still unemployed. It wasn't until late November that Fite said he received his first job offer: a programmer position that was fairly similar to his prior role. The downside was that the pay was $68,000 annually, roughly $21,000 less than he made at his last job. He decided to accept the offer.

Fite said his lower income has led him and his wife to eat out less, cut a few subscriptions, and pay for repairs for their two vehicles rather than buy new ones. Looking forward, Fite is optimistic that he'll be able to catch up to his prior compensation level.

"I think in three or four years, I'll be back where I was salary-wise," he said. "If I receive another offer for more money, I can always accept that one. I just needed to get going again."