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Middle-Aged Financial Pressures

Middle-aged workers typically face more financial pressures, such as supporting a family and paying for their kids' educations.

Rich Morin, a senior editor at the Pew Research Center, says young people's job problems compound problems for jobless parents.

"They are having to welcome back their grown children, and that means people are retaining expenses and sharing resources for longer periods of time," Morin explains.

The unemployment rate for middle-aged people is less than the population overall, and far less than the rate for very young job seekers. But demographers and labor economists say the recession squeezed middle management, and that those positions are slow to come back.

Their experience doesn't necessarily work to their advantage; sometimes, it makes finding a match for their skills harder. Of the dozen or so middle-aged job seekers I interviewed around the country, many say ageism runs rampant.