Older Americans in their 80s are applying for jobs — and hitting a wall

Charles Meoni may be 82, but he knows he can drive an 18-wheeler. He just can’t seem to find a hiring manager who agrees.

For decades, Meoni worked as a truck driver, earning about $1,200 a week at his peak. Twenty years ago, his heart and neck started to hurt. Doctors found he had an aneurysm. He treated his condition with medications, then had a major heart surgery this February that put him out of work.

Once he was ready to return, his job was no longer available. He sent applications to other local transportation companies, and still couldn’t find work.

“Most places don’t want an 82-year-old driver,” said Meoni, who lives in Florida.

He said he’s too old to apply for long-haul jobs, and the companies with shorter routes won’t bite. A connection found him work as a restaurant valet, but Meoni turned it down because he couldn’t handle the physical demands and weather exposure.

Meoni’s wife, 85, is also on the job hunt and is very concerned about their finances, he said. She ran a bar years ago and held a clerical job. He and his wife have about $20,000 left in savings. He now receives about $2,000 a month in Social Security, which isn’t enough to cover all their expenses, including roof repair costs.

“Everything fell down, and I’m just trying to survive right now,” Meoni said. “I have to dig out a little more money all the time. Even $500 a week more would save me.”

Over the past year, Business Insider has heard from dozens of older Americans navigating unemployment. Most said they don’t have enough savings to retire comfortably, and that hundreds of applications have yielded no work. Some opted to take major pay cuts just to have some income.

Little has been reported about what job hunting looks like two decades after retirement age. For the small population of 80-somethings healthy enough to work, applying for jobs often feels futile, particularly in more manual or technical roles. For those who do find work, it’s often in part-time retail, caregiving, or nonprofit roles that pay slightly above minimum wage.

Ageism in the workplace is often hard to prove. AARP research from 2024 found that six in 10 workers age 50 and older have either experienced or witnessed age discrimination at work. Over two dozen experts on aging and retirement recently told Business Insider that ageism is prevalent in the workplace, and shared some solutions.

Ashton Applewhite, an anti-ageism activist and author, said employers have misconceptions about older workers’ technical abilities or dedication to work. They’re generally offered fewer training opportunities, but are as motivated to learn new technology as younger workers, she said. She added that there is little evidence that older workers are less economically productive than their younger colleagues.

“Data shows that if you give someone who’s been on the job for a while new challenges, they are as able and interested in adapting as a younger worker,” Applewhite said.

Of course, some jobs are especially dangerous for workers in their 80s and 90s or anyone facing medical issues. One wrong step on a construction site could be fatal, while standing for five hours or lifting heavy objects could exacerbate arthritis or joint pain. Some companies may not want to take the liability risk.

For this story, Business Insider spoke to eight people in their 80s navigating unemployment after a layoff or medical issue, and nearly two dozen more reached out through an ongoing reader survey of older workers.

Business Insider’s “80 over 80” series draws on interviews with the growing group of Americans working past their 80th birthdays. They discussed their careers, retirement planning, living expenses, healthcare, and life lessons. If you are 80 and older and still work, fill out this form to contribute to the series and read more here:

• They’re in their 80s, still working, and living paycheck to paycheck
• What work looks like in your 80s for half a million Americans
• 81 and working to survive
• Meet the 90-somethings with lessons to share on life, work, and money

‘I’m probably a liability’

Many of the older workers who can’t find jobs told Business Insider that they have applied for physically demanding roles in driving, construction, transportation, and maintenance. Some of these are among the most fatal jobs for workers of all ages.

William Coburn, 83, said he would be living on the street if it weren’t for job search and supportive services through the Senior Community Service Employment Program — a federal program for which the Trump administration later paused funding. He can’t find anything in his previous line of work, which he suspects would pay him much more.

Coburn ran an appliance maintenance business for 25 years before retiring about three years ago.

He sent in his résumé for any maintenance technician role he could find in his area. He applied to drive a forklift and secured a commercial driver’s license in May.

“I’m 83 years old, but I feel like a 40-year-old man,” Coburn said. “I’m strong and have no health problems whatsoever. But I’m probably a liability to them because of my age.”

Coburn received $15.49 an hour, 20 hours a week, while training and looking for work through the nonprofit PathStone since December. The pay wasn’t sufficient to cover all his expenses, and with SCSEP cuts, he relies solely on his $1,200 monthly Social Security check. He has lived in a motel for the last six months, which costs around $1,400 monthly, and he’s struggling to make car payments.

He said he’s already burned through $150,000 he saved for retirement. “Social Security does not pay you enough money to even live on,” said Coburn. “By the end of the month, I’m broke.”

Gary Officer, president and CEO at the nonprofit CWI Works, which helps older Americans secure work, said more employers need to recognize the benefits of hiring older workers. Older workers often have deep experience in soft skills like teamwork and communication, he said. “Those are traits that come with wisdom,” he said.

Ifeoma Ajunwa, a law professor at Emory Law School, found in a study that hiring and social media platforms use practices that deter older people from applying — like job postings with ageist language such as “digital natives” or “energetic.”

Ajunwa said that AI has opened doors for some older workers, making remote work easier and streamlining tasks with AI assistants. Older workers who struggle to adopt AI could be left behind, she said. And some hiring sites have used AI to estimate a candidate’s age by scanning graduation dates or years worked.

‘I’m sinking, but I’m not sinking fast enough to drown yet.’

A long and varied career isn’t a guarantee of being able to find work in your 80s. Pat Fagin Scott, 85, stopped putting her age on her résumé and has applied to any relevant job she could find. It’s proven fruitless.

Scott, a Howard University graduate, began her career in teaching before working as a tour guide at the United Nations. She held jobs in the film industry, worked at the Urban Institute, and spent 16 years at the DC Housing Authority. She’s lived for 47 years in the same five-bedroom home in Northwest DC, which is now too large for her.

In 2017, she retired from the housing agency, where she was earning over $150,000 annually. She expected that after taking some time off, she would land a new opportunity, given her long résumé.

Scott has been job hunting on and off since retiring. She’s applied through job boards like LinkedIn and Indeed, and she’s networked online. At times, she stopped applying altogether after receiving a string of rejections, opting to volunteer instead.

“I’m an old girl, but I’m not a dead girl,” Scott said. “I applied to join the Army, and that’s when I found out there’s an age ceiling.”

David Neumark, an economics professor at the University of California, Irvine, found that companies often subtly dissuade older workers from applying to jobs or call back older workers less frequently than younger workers. When online applications are age-blind, older applicants are not under-selected, though the hiring rate plummets after an in-person interview, he said.

Scott said she’s sharp and active, but it’s hard to prove that to hiring managers. She gets over $5,000 a month between her Social Security and government pension, and she recently took out a reverse mortgage to cover her bills. She wishes she had saved more so she could better weather her long unemployment.

“There are so many things going on in my life that it’s like a boat that is gathering water. Every time I plug up a hole, another hole comes,” Scott said. “I’m sinking, but I’m not sinking fast enough to drown yet.”

Michael North, an associate professor of management and organizations at New York University, said that as the workforce ages, tension between generations could grow — and impact hiring decisions.

“The older you are, the more that people see you as blocking opportunities that some believe would be better allocated to younger generations,” North said.

Sharon Solomon Rose, a social gerontologist who works as a ProAdvisor at the consulting services organization Business Authority, said employers should foster intergenerational workplaces. Companies should not isolate people in their 20s from people in their 60s.

“We need what’s called reverse mentoring,” she said, referring to younger workers mentoring older workers.

‘You have to roll with the punches’

Many older Americans are getting creative about finding work. Some said they became authors, while several opened craft businesses. Others have launched startups or handyman businesses.

Henry Montez, 87, figures he’ll land back on his feet after a layoff this year, though he won’t be applying for 9-to-5 jobs.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, Montez worked in film, television, and fashion. He said he arranged an interview with Gerald Ford in the Oval Office, did television production work in South America and Africa, and filmed young Chinese Americans tracing their roots in China. He founded and ran a production company for decades until it shut down due to pandemic-related pressures.

Through SCSEP, he found work with an organization called CASA that assists working-class Americans through financial education and legal services. He was paid around minimum wage and felt fulfilled by his work. Within CASA, he developed two bilingual programs teaching Microsoft Office to older Americans, then was laid off shortly after the Trump Administration cut the nonprofit’s AmeriCorps funding.

“You have to roll with the punches and just keep moving,” Montez said.

Montez doesn’t plan to look for a traditional 9-to-5 job. He said he’s planning to tutor high school students in arts and technology. He began working with a young entrepreneur on marketing and branding projects. The extra income will help him stay afloat and afford payments on the house he shares with a woman in her late 70s who teaches yoga and pilates.

“Too many people are willing to write things off because they’re old,” Montez said. “It’s just a number. Dying is not on my bucket list.”

The post Older Americans in their 80s are applying for jobs — and hitting a wall appeared first on Business Insider.