August 02, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Reemployment of displaced workers by age, January 2004

About 65 percent of the 5.3 million long-tenured displaced workers were reemployed when surveyed in January 2004. These workers had been displaced from jobs between January 2001 and December 2003.

[Chart data—TXT]

The reemployment rates for workers ages 20 to 24 was 65 percent and the rate for those ages 25 to 54 was 69 percent. By comparison, reemployment rates were lower for older workers ages 55 to 64 (56 percent) and 65 years and older (24 percent). Large proportions of older displaced workers were not in the labor force when surveyed.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. The reemployment rates cited here are for "long-tenured workers"—those who were in their jobs for 3 years or longer. Displaced workers lose their jobs because their plants or companies close down or move, their positions or shifts are abolished, or their employers do not have enough work for them to do. Read more about displaced workers in "Worker Displacement, 2001-03" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-1381.