We should call the Covid-19 recession for what it is. The beginning of a major economic Depression.

The ABS unemployment methodology makes us think we’re ‘holidaying in the Greek islands’ when we are being beaten around the head by an economy on life support.

I used to do research for the Commonwealth Government on older workers. It had news appeal five or six years ago when everyone was talking about paying for older people’s health care, pensions, etc. They were labelled part of the problem.

Little was done about the real problems, which were age prejudice and reskilling older workers. The rhetoric was patronising pap.

The current Depression is hurling tens of thousands of them on to the dole. Many more are just hanging in there with insecure work.

When older people (over 50) join the dole line, most of them stay there. Remember the 1991 recession? About 100,000 older workers lost their jobs and many never worked again in full time jobs.

Few resume upgrades will help an older worker who hasn’t upgraded their skills; who hasn’t learnt new software or management techniques. If the last time he or she did formal study was in the 1980s, they are history.

They will become ghosts of a crumbling economy: invisible and unwanted.

The remedy is to upgrade skills and gain more credentials from a reputable training organisation. Go out and volunteer. Broaden one’s network. Become involved in things apart from work.

Older workers should also think how they can leverage opportunities for people of their generation. That can be anything from growing seedlings (for food) to teaching them how to operate software.

As the Apollo Moon Mission Director, Gene Kranz, once said, “Failure is not an option”.

For many older folk, retirement won’t be an option either.