Right now the 3.2 percent unemployment rate for older workers may look pretty good—on the surface, that is.

But the July report from The New School’s Retirement Equity Lab reminds us that, despite those apparently rosy statistics for over-55 workers, employment statistics alone don’t tell the whole story—such as how good those jobs are, for instance.

And the news isn’t great, since 24 percent of those older workers do not have access to health insurance on the job—whether their own or their spouse’s.

While 76 percent of over-55 workers are covered by employer-provided insurance—either through their own job or through a spouse’s employment—the other 24 percent are on their own, either having to buy coverage as best they can or simply going without.

The report divides that 24 percent into three groups: those who do buy private health insurance, “often at higher prices or with less coverage and higher deductibles than employer coverage”; those who qualify for means-tested Medicaid; and those who go without coverage, “typically because they earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to qualify for private health insurance.”

This not only jeopardizes their health but also their potential ability to retire, the report says, since “[h]igh insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs reduce the amount workers can afford to save for retirement, while the uninsured or underinsured risk catastrophic medical costs that can rapidly deplete their retirement savings.”

Those employment statistics may not be all that rosy for another reason, too: The ReLab report provides additional data indicating that the U-3 unemployment rate of 3.2 percent, unchanged from June, comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Situation report and is defined as “the share of the labor force that is unemployed.”

But ReLab also includes the U-7 unemployment rate, which is “the share of all people saying they want and are available for a job that are not working or are working part-time for economic reasons.”

That’s definitely not rosy, at 8.4 percent—and that represents an increase since June. Not only that, but the median real weekly earnings of the 55-and-over crowd are at $883, which has decreased since June.

Last but not least, the percentage of college-educated older workers in low-paying jobs stands at 15 percent—also an increase since June.

The report adds that “[p]olicymakers should strengthen the Affordable Care Act and provide a path to a secure retirement by expanding Social Security and implementing Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs).”

Instant Insights /

Some older workers&rsquo; jobs lack health coverage, jeopardizing retirement

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Some older workers’ jobs lack health coverage, jeopardizing retirement