You can skip the confetti, but for older workers, the employment situation has improved somewhat, according toBureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday.

In December, overall unemployment dropped to 9.4 percent from 9.8 percent the previous month.

Workers over age 55, in particular, felt a bump up, with the unemployment rate falling from 7.2 percent to 6.9 percent.
For older men, the rate dropped from 8 percent to 7.2 percent (or by 10 percent).

Among older women, the unemployment rate fell from 6.2 percent to 5.8 percent (a 6.5 percent decline).

In fact, older workers, those between 55 and 64 had the lowest overall unemployment rate at 6.6 percent, compared with 6.9 percent for over-65-year-olds, 7.6 percent for 45- to 54-year-olds, and 8 percent for 40- to 44-year-olds.

But let’s get real. “The decline in unemployment in the older population is encouraging news, as is the increase in the number of older Americans with jobs,  AARP Public Policy Institute’s Sara Rix, a senior strategic policy advisor told me. “However, it is going to take a great deal of job creation, hiring, training, and retraining to get unemployment rates back to where they were at the start of the Great Recession.”

She’s dead on there. Though employment of workers over 50 has marched upwards in the past year, unemployment rates are still three times higher than they were a decade ago, when only 2.5 percent of people over 45 were out of work..

I would be remiss, too, not to point to the elephant in the room so to speak when it comes to this month’s marginally encouraging jobs picture. Although the latest unemployment rate is a step up (it’s the lowest since May 2009), more people have simply stopped looking for jobs.

There were 1.3 million discouraged workers in December 2010, an increase of 389,000 persons from the previous year. These people have stopped looking for work because they believe there are no jobs available for them, according to BLS.

Not so encouraging, is it?  But whining will get you nowhere. Where are the jobs?

Employment rose in leisure and hospitality. Within the industry, job gains continued in food services and drinking places. Since a recent low in December 2009, the food services industry has added 188,000 jobs.
Health care employment continued to expand, with a gain of 36,000 in December. Over the month, the biggest job gains were in ambulatory services, followed by hospitals, and nursing and residential care facilities.

Within professional and business services, employment in temporary help services continued to trend up and has risen by 495,000 since a recent low in September 2009.

The surge in temporary jobs is what really interests me. This is a shift that’s not so temporary. For many employers, hiring temporary workers simply makes sense. They can staff up for short-term projects without the expense of healthcare and other benefits. They can be nimble and run a leaner ship with far less overhead. And in this market, they can attract top talent.

For older educated workers, who are willing to change their mindset about the security of a full-time position in the corporate world, these can be a win-win. Nothing is secure these days; if you’ve been downsized, you’re well aware of  that. Let’s be honest, if you’re, say,  57 and really don’t want to work for more than another five or 10 years before retiring or at least semi-retiring, it is all about the money.

Chances are, you don’t have that burning desire to throw all your energy into a new position in the way you once did. Your career has taken a hard right turn, and you aren’t going backwards. No time anyway.

Employers can sense that and getting hired full-time is going to be hard. Your age and compensation demands are a big problem.

As a contract worker, a temporary worker, you can make it an asset. Your experience is valued. A younger worker isn’t going to get the job done quickly and capably without some hands-on training in many situations. So employers are typically willing to pay you handsomely, on an interim basis, that is. You don’t have to rollover and work for less money.

People looking for full-time work, especially those who have been out of work for several months, are missing an opportunity by not accepting contract jobs as their future. This is not a time to be a snob about it, or wear blinders and be trapped by the quaint notion of  nailing a full-time gig “just like your old job”. Those days of velvet handcuffs and cushy benefits are long gone.

It’s an ego thing. For many older boomers, a temp job is not a “real” job. The truth is a “permanent” employer is probably a pipe dream when you hit a certain age. Get on with it. Be grateful for the longevity you may have had with your last employer. It’s time to weave together your future, probably with a series of temporary assignments. Let’s call you self-employed, a consultant, a freelancer, an entrepreneur.

If you can’t get your head around this concept yet, temporary work is still worth considering. It’s one way to get your foot in the door with a potential full-time employer, and it can be a great way to network. It also keeps your resume alive, staving off that stigma of gaping holes of unemployment in your resume.

Replacing a lost income stream today is challenging, even more so if you were financially and psychologically unprepared for your pink slip. But as Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Co.,  said: “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.”