Katherine Brewster, an administrator for a small medical group, thought she was doing the right thing when her firm dissolved last spring. Methodically, Brewster helped younger, less experienced employees find new jobs before attempting to find one for herself.

"I thought finding a job would be a cakewalk," she confesses. "Then the humbling reality hit me."

After spending four months looking for a job, the 51-year-old Californian is so discouraged that she now hopes to find an entry-level management job and work her way back into a higher-paying position.

"I don't think I can wait for the market to change," she reasons. "I have to change to fit the market."

The recent recession spawned a new phenomenon known as a "jobless recovery," an economic recovery decidedly different from those in the past.

Economists peg the end of the recession to November 2001, but the US Department of Labor reports that private employers have eliminated more than 1 million jobs since then. The cutbacks are making it increasingly difficult for displaced workers to re-enter the workforce.

The result is that many middle-aged workers are finding themselves uprooted from their jobs, some for the first time. The jobless rate for workers ages 35 to 44 is at its highest point since the 1993-1994 recession and has doubled since late 2000, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The 35-to-44 age group is generally considered the most stable portion of the workforce, with many workers approaching their peak earnings and career opportunities. The unemployment rate for this age group is typically lower than the overall jobless rate, but as the current recession lingers, the gap between the two is shrinking.

Job loss is no longer a short-term prospect either. Nearly one in four jobless Californians has been looking for work for more than six months, or nearly twice as many as were in that situation two years ago.

While it is generally assumed that higher-paid workers spend more time looking for work when they are displaced, Drake Beam Morin career consultant Duncan Mathison has found that often isn't the case.

"It's more job specific," he reports. "A highly paid engineer might go looking for work and find it immediately because they possess the necessary skills and someone decides to gobble them up. An executive, on the other hand, might be unemployed for a longer period because of the decision-making cycle involved in hiring someone in a leadership job. You don't often hire an executive the day they walk in the door."

Age-Old Problem

"Job loss at this age is never good," observes Stephen Woodbury, senior economist for the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, Mich. "Workers need an economic recovery to help them rebound from job loss and we just haven't seen that yet. That adds to their concerns."

It's a near certainty that your life is going to change if you lose your job at the age of 40 or 50, claims Jeffrey Wenger, an economist for the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. Some people will be able to find comparable jobs, but many will take pay cuts of up to 20 percent just to get back to work.

"It's kind of like the reverse lottery," Wenger says. "If you're part of this group, you have a low chance of losing your job. But when you do lose, you lose big."

Workers older than 45 make up 25 percent of the workforce, yet they represent 34.8 percent of the long-term unemployed, EPI says.

Barry Heermann, a California career coach and author of the book Building Team Spirit, thinks the pain of any job loss may be heightened for middle-aged workers.

"The truth is, a 45-year-old with a family to support, mortgage, two cars and a comfortable standard of living probably is going to feel a lot of pressure when they lose their job these days. Our lives are so connected to our jobs that we're now obligated to them. We don't own our jobs; they own us."

The reality is that the older you get and the more money you make, the less likely you are to replace that job and salary.

A mid-1990s survey showed that 25 percent of the workers who had been displaced three years earlier had yet to find stable employment, according to Woodbury. Many of those who did find new jobs didn't rate them comparable to their old ones.

He estimates that figure may have increased to 35 or 40 percent of displaced middle-aged workers because of the nation's languishing economy.

"We've tracked workers for up to ten years after they lost their jobs and they just never seemed to recover. They always lose in their earning power."

Just as important, says Woodbury, is the human capital that workers accrue over time working in one industry or for one employer.

"When you have to leave the telecom industry and work in the service sector, for instance, you will lose out on what you have learned through the years," he believes. "The value from your telecom career probably won't be worth much in another industry."

Some workers today also are hamstrung in their ability to find work because they no longer have the flexibility to move. It's relatively painless to relocate in your early 20s, but with kids in school, parents to care for, or other community ties, relocation isn't as easy in middle age. That leads to some workers finding stopgap jobs or being underemployed, situations that can build additional career frustrations.

Drake Beam Morin's Mathison notes that when most workers go in search of new jobs, they simply try to replace the job they just lost. "That doesn't work very often," he finds. "There are very few openings like that, and the more you limit your job search, the tougher you make it on yourself."

Everyone is Expendable

For people such as Sharon Wheeler, 56, joblessness can come as a surprise. Wheeler was laid off in December for the second time in three years, after spending more than 20 years as a computer-skills instructor.

"I know that layoffs are cyclical and happen in my industry. I just didn't think I would be downsized. Companies always need people to teach technical skills, and I thought that made my job safe."

So certain was she of her job security that she planned to work at her last job until she was ready to retire.

Wheeler finally found work again in August.

Maggi Payment, a career counselor at the San Diego Metro Career Center, sees many baby boomers who expect the economy to treat workers as it did 25 or 30 years ago.

"It's not your father's job market anymore," she insists. "There is some misperception that a college degree and 20 years in your career gives you insulation from this turmoil." If a buffer ever existed, it is gone today.

"It seems that white-collar workers in middle age are particularly affected by losing a job," Payment observes. "Everything might have been up, up and away for them, and now they find themselvesfrustrated. Some get stubborn, resist spiffing up their resumes or resist networking, and expect that a nother job will just come to them."

Even when the handwriting is on the wall, some workers just don't seem to get the message. That was the case for Martin Fong, a technical illustrator who kept an eye trained on technological advances, but realized he would lose his job someday. When that day came in January, Fong, 49, admits he was caught flat-footed. "I had it in the back of my mind that it would happen, but when it did, I got two hours notice.

Fong is taking college classes and looking for ways to transfer his skills to a new career. He hopes to become a forensic technician. "A lot of my skills seem to apply there, and law enforcement always needs forensic technology."

Fong doesn't expect to make as much in his new position and fears he may have to work outside his local San Diego region.

"You do what you have to do," he concedes.

A Step Backward

It is common for individuals to be paralyzed in their job search when they know they have limited options, according to Heerman. "I think it can be very frightening to be out of work at this age. It affects your whole life and there's a great uncertainty over what will happen to you."

Brewster's inability to find another job immediately made her frustrated and angry. She had realized she needed more formal education to be marketable, earning a bachelor's degree five years ago and a master's degree two years ago.

"Initially, it bothered me because I thought I had done everything right," she confides. "Eventually, I have come to see the big picture and realize that I might have to do some other things to be more marketable."

One of those is to accept taking a step backward to get another management job. Brewster is expecting to take a pay cut of up to 50 percent.

"I'm not happy about that, but I figure I have 15 or 20 years left in the job market, and the sooner I can make it back to where I was, the better."

Mathison thinks it actually can be a curse in today's world to hold down the same job for a lengthy period. "As the years pass in your job, part of your value to the company is the way you know how to get things done. A lot of people find themselves on a career track that leads them into support roles, such as managers, program managers, human resources and finance. As they get farther away from the core of the business, their value is harder to demonstrate to the outside world.

"It doesn't mean they aren't valuable employees. It just means it will be harder for them to transfer those skills to another employer."

Economist Wenger puts it another way. "The way you push paper at General Motors is different than the way you push paper at Ford. "You leave GM and you lose part of your value."

For many, losing a job late in life carries serious financial repercussions that can last a lifetime.

"Think about it," says Wenger. "You lose a job at 50 and it takes you six months or a year to get another job. You probably not only have your salary reduced, but you have to go without six months or a year's income. You'll never recover from that financially."