Where are the jobs??!?

Here's a comment from Kat Posing, a Huffpost reader, responding to an article on age discrimination and other problems in the U.S. job market

I'm 45, work in IT and I'm scared to death of what will happen when I turn 50. I had the hardest time getting this job - I've got almost 20 years of experience, have managed large IT teams both local and overseas, but Im overqualified for a mid range or even some senior positions. Their afraid I'll ask for too much money or will leave when I find a better position. They can hire cheaper college grads (with no experience) or a visa holder or just plain outsource the job if they can.

It's funny, I've got a college degree in computer science, started working on an MBA, but I had someone from the Unemployment office ask me if I would be willing to take a 50% cut in pay to do the same job. Mortgage and car payments, child care, general cost of living don't just get cut in half overnight. Then they asked me if I would consider moving into another field. Every job I've got experience in - clerical, computer programming , business analyst, project manager, database analyst, even general middle management - has been decimated over the last 10 years. You are supposedly training people to do the type of work I do from previous manufacturing jobs.

My question is what job do I go to from here?

Oh yeah. Walmart greeter or a cashier at McDonalds

Fellow Huffpost reader, Jane Joad, has this response to the same piece:

Well I'm glad the nightmare we've (me and the old man) been living for almost two years has come to light. WE'RE TOO OLD ALREADY, he's 53, I'm 58 and even though we don't look like our parents, we look like SOMEBODY'S parents, and I think that the people doing the hiring, unless they are our peers, DON'T want us around.

Whether they feel threatened by our experience, or we just look too damn much like Mom and Dad, I don't know. Either way it's DISCRIMINATION.

They don't want to pay us what we deserve for the knowledge WE possess, yet they can't figure out why their business is doing bad and they lost so many customers. It's because that
kid you've got working for you, that you pay the minimum, is RUDE, incompetent and doesn't give a damn about your business.

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. That used to mean something. Now we pay overseas workers less and CEO'S more for the INFERIOR products that flood our markets. I hope
this does some good. It should be the headline EVERYDAY until people our age are back to work.

BTW, Republicans ALREADY KNEW older workers were shut out. WHY do you think they want to raise the retirement age? Talk about death panels, these guys are making a CONCERTED EFFORT to PENURE a particular class of people.

I didn't work all my life and pay taxes since I was 16 to lose EVERYTHING NOW. But I AM.

The anguish of those who can't find work is heartbreaking, but the anxiety of even those who have a job is also palpable. I know there's no easy solution, but we can all pressure business and government leaders to make jobs a higher priority. As consumers we can try to buy union-made products, and avoid giving our hard-earned dollars to companies that aggressively exploit cheap labor. Those who try to help their short-term political interests by deliberately blocking useful, and job creating, public works (like Gov. Christie of N.J.) should be vilified-- and far more harshly than by the mild rebukes of a gentleman like Paul Krugman.