America recently passed a grim milestone of over 210,000 COVID-19 deaths, with little hope the pandemic will come under control soon. While the coronavirus has been devastating to those who’ve lost loved ones, it has also exacted a vicious toll on a particular group of older Americans: lower-wage workers, minorities and women who have labored for decades in jobs with unstable incomes and without employee benefits.

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We hear a lot about The Longevity Economy — what a notable 2019 AARP report described as people age 50+ continuing “to contribute to society and help to drive economic growth, innovation, and new value creation.” But the sad truth is that some older Americans are getting left behind in the longevity economy, due to ways the pandemic’s recession has exacerbated the nation’s other ills.

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Average U.S. life expectancy declined from 2014 to 2017. The only precedents: during World War I and the subsequent influenza epidemic

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COVID-19 and society’s disparities

“COVID has elevated our understanding of the inequities and disparities in society,” says Paul Irving, chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging and a Next Avenue Influencer in Aging. Even before COVID-19, the financial stress from gender and racial discrimination have been amplified during the second half of life and from ageist prejudices.

Low-wage workers typically accumulate little wealth and savings by the time retirement looms, and the pandemic has only worsened this trend. According to new research by the Washington Post, at the peak of the coronavirus crisis, low-wage jobs were lost at about eight times the rate of high-wage ones.

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