Older Workers Need a Different Kind of Layoff
A 60-year-old whose position is eliminated might be unable to find another job, but could retire if allowed early access to Medicare.
Surely some older workers would rather retire before 65 than scramble to find a new job.
Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg
The proposed merger between SunTrust and BB&T makes sense for both firms — which is why Wall Street sent both stocks higher on Thursday after the announcement. But employees of the two banks, especially older workers who are not yet retirement age, are understandably less enthused at the prospect of downsizing. In a nation with almost 37 million workers over the age of 55, the quandary of SunTrust-BB&T workforce will become increasingly familiar across the U.S. economy.
This merger isn’t born out of froth and exuberance, but pragmatism. Big banks like JPMorgan are spending billions of dollars a year on technology. Smaller banks like SunTrust and BB&T have to spend on technology to stay relevant, but don’t have the budgets that bigger banks do. It stands to reason that a combined entity could spend on technology upgrades more efficiently and effectively than the two banks individually.