The displacement of workers, 45-64 years of age

On the basis of legislation recently enacted, workers 65 years of age and over, will in the future be able to retire from industry with some assurance that the means of an independent livelihood will not at the same time be cut off for them. But, with the many technical changes that have occurred since the war and, particularly, with the recent shrinkage in trade as a result of the depression, a good deal of anxiety has been felt for those under 65 years of age, on down into the middle 40's, in the belief that in the search for economies, employers got rid of their older workers first. A study of some 6,959 male workers on relief during 1933, on the contrary, shows that in the most difficult of times, such as the industries, generally, experienced since 1929, it was the younger and not the older workers who were sacrificed. The older workers were apparently retained for key positions.