Two Tales From the Recession

June 30, 2010— -- Fred Sherrod is one of the many faces of the lingering recession.

He's 52 years old, a highly experienced account manager in the middle of his career, and he's been looking for work for a year and a half.

"It affects one's pride, it affects a lot of people in different ways," Sherrod said. "It's difficult to go out and look for a job and wonder sometimes if age isn't a factor of why it's not happening."

Startling research released by the Pew Center for Research found that Sherrod is one of the 55 percent of Americans who have faced unemployment, experienced a cut in pay, a reduction in hours or have become involuntary part-time workers.

Middle-Aged Workers Hit Hard

Middle aged workers like Sherrod have been hit particularly hard. According to the survey, workers between the age of 50 and 64 were most likely to have felt the pinch during this recession. The latest research also showed that blacks and Hispanics have been hit disproportionately hard by the recession, a double whammy against the African-American Sherrod.

At a time in his life when Sherrod thought he'd be earning the most from his career, he's two months away from running out of unemployment benefits and losing his health insurance. He's spending the last few dollars in his savings account to survive.

Today, Sherrod went to a technical school north of Atlanta, Georgia, to learn new skills.

"It's very easy to get into that [mentality] of saying why should I get up and get motivated to do this when I have so many days and so many months and the end result is still the same," he said. "But I'm not the type that gives up, so I get up in the morning, I get motivated and I do what I need to do to try to find a new position," he said.