Is retraining the answer to unemployment?

Everybody is talking about retraining in this kind of economy. Since the great recession, jobs are scarce and whatever the jobs are there they are in areas where there is an increasing need for different set of skills. These skills need more retraining for people who have been in their previous jobs for a long time and are either reluctant to invest in a new skills or don’t have the means to do it. Financially I can understand that people have other obligations to fulfill and they may not have the time or money to pursue new skills or they are not sure if they are going to get a job when they have done training since most of the jobs now require experience in addition to theoretical knowledge.

But another thing is that do the people who are in their 50s or more (which are now more discriminated due to their age, etc) really want to switch their careers or if they do would be able to find a job in an increasingly youth oriented and competitive market. I can be wrong but the evidence is coming out that this new training is just hope against hope and as long as there are more jobless than the jobs no amount of retraining will help.