Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 13, 1994                   TAG: 9405130089
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

HIGHER-PAID MIDLIFE MALES MOST LIABLE AT TIME OF LAYOFFS

Harvard University economics professor James Medoff, in a paper published by the liberal National Study Center, found that men aged 35 to 54 are twice as likely to lose their jobs in a permanent layoff as they were 13 years ago.

``The mistreatment of women on the pay front has led to their protection when it comes to termination,'' he said.

Middle-aged men are paid 20 percent more than women of the same age in the same occupation, 21 percent more than men aged 16 to 34 and 4 percent more than men 55 and older, he said.

A comparison of what Medoff called the permanent unemployment rate from 1967-71 and 1987-92 shows that ``males have become much more vulnerable to unemployment due to permanent layoff than have females,'' said the paper, titled ``The Midlife Job Crisis.''

In 1980, when unemployment was 7.1 percent, fewer than 5 percent were middle-aged men whose old jobs had been eliminated.

In 1992, when the jobless rate was 7.4 percent, 11 percent of the unemployed were middle-aged men on permanent layoff.

``About 1 million men a year suffer this devastating midlife job crisis at a time when their financial and family responsibilities are the greatest,'' said Joseph Cooper, president of the study center, which is an offshoot of the liberal House Democratic Study Group. ``Millions more face the threat.''

In general, all workers now are more vulnerable to permanent job loss. Women are less vulnerable than men. Men aged 16 to 34 still are more vulnerable than older colleagues. But midcareer men have experienced the largest increase.

According to Medoff, wives of permanently laid-off men were 24 percent more likely to be working outside the home. And the effects on families of women pushed into the labor force by economic necessity are quite different from those choosing to work, he said.

``The ramifications for kids are pretty obvious,'' he said.

Medoff said most men who lose their jobs find other work, but on average at lower pay and in jobs that are less likely to offer health insurance and good pension plans.

He said there's not much men can do to protect themselves.

``Suppose someone has just been declared redundant at a bank. What do they do? Find another bank that wants redundancy? It's very hard,'' he said.