A World of Age Discrimination

Even though the populations of developed nations are aging quickly these days, age bias in the global workplace is still alive and well. In fact, evidence suggests that some people are facing it even before they hit age 40 – especially when it comes to hiring.

"Ageism is more common in the workplace than racism or sexism … more prominent in the United Kingdom than in any other industrial nation in Europe," says Jeff Grout, managing director of Robert Half International. "In our experience, ageism can affect candidates in their 40s and even late 30s, with many [UK] advertisements specifying that only applicants 'up to the age of 35' need apply." A Robert Half survey found that 46% of 613 UK employers surveyed recruit only young staff, and 27% specified that candidates would have to be in the 20-29 age range.

Such bias is also prevalent in parts of Asia. For example, the Hong Kong Council of Social Services found that 40% of middle-aged and older people suffered from age discrimination when looking for a job. In a 2000 survey, 39.6% of 412 respondents said their age had caused them to be rejected for a job, 28.6% said it had resulted in pay cuts and 20% said they were fired for being too old. And, in Taipei, Taiwan, the government recently sponsored a job fair just for middle-aged workers, whose joblessness rose from 3% to 16.5% in the recent economic slowdown. A Labor Council survey showed that only 20% of surveyed Taiwanese companies were willing to hire these workers, and in manufacturing, only 17%.

Most employers seem out of step with the aging of the workforce, a recent Wall Street Journal article reports. This year, for the first time, the number of U.S. workers who are 40 and older will surpass those 40 and under. Yet, when employers want to hire, they still go to college campuses, and when they want to cut their workforces, they still offer early retirement.

Analysts suggest that employers start reexamining their attitudes about older workers, rooting out potential stereotypes. Studies and the experience of companies like Bonne Bell and CVS show that even workers approaching traditional retirement ages are happy to work hard. Some of them may, however, want flexible schedules that allow them free time to be with their families or to pursue other interests. When a corporate position does not provide such flexibility, talented older workers may leave to find the conditions they want somewhere else. Michelle Boggs of McKinley Marketing Partners, an interim placement firm, says she has seen a big jump in the past three years of over-50 corporate employees opting for flexible interim jobs.

When it comes to hiring and retaining older workers, companies in some industries seem more experienced than others. A William M. Mercer survey of large U.S. employers found that in the field of higher education, 83% of organizations had staffs on which at least one quarter of workers were over 50; in government, 50%; in manufacturing, 38%; in nonprofit service organizations, 29%; and in for-profit service organizations, just 12%.

The IT field is particularly prone to having younger workers. A U.S. study by the Committee on National Workforce Needs in Information Technology found that the U.S. IT workforce is younger than the workforce in other occupations with comparable educational attainment and that IT workers 40 and older are more likely than their younger colleagues to lose their jobs. It also found that when these older IT workers lose their jobs, they are likely to find new jobs but at a wage loss of about 14%, while their younger counterparts are likely to increase their pay by an average of 6.6%. The committee warned that the cause of these findings is not known, so illegal age bias shouldn't be assumed. Nonetheless, as the large Baby-Boom generation moves into its 50s and 60s, all companies and industries may face growing pressure to develop age-diverse workforces. Firms that appear to have hidden biases could well face more and more court challenges from a large and legally savvy cohort of people intent on fighting for their perceived rights.

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An examination of rehiring older workers is at
http://www.cnn.com/2001/CAREER/trends/01/23/seniors/

A study of U.S. IT workers can be found at
http://www.nap.edu/html/building_workforce/ch4.html

An Internet poll on ageism in the high-tech field is at
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-5697655.html?tag=ch_mh

An article on UK age discrimination in IT can be seen at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4120359,00.html