Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics tell the tale: The number of people aged 55 and up with jobs actually rose nearly 900,000 from the start of the recession, in December 2007, through last year. By comparison, people aged 25 to 54 lost nearly 2.9 million jobs. The share of older Americans who have jobs has risen during the recession, while the share of younger Americans with jobs has plunged.

That’s a big change from the last serious recession, in 1990-91, when older workers, especially in manufacturing, were hard-hit. Today’s pattern is closer to that of the mild 2001 recession, when older workers did reasonably well.
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Boeing’s buyouts in the 1990s encouraged workers near retirement to jump ship. “We’ve learned from that,” says Hartnett. While Boeing says it doesn’t look at age in making cuts, it and others want to save the most productive workers—often employees whom companies have invested in most and who have “demonstrated track records,” says Chicago lawyer Gerald L. Maatman Jr., who recently advised 10 companies on downsizing. Such workers “tend to be more experienced and are often older.”