Experience Works report shows hidden age discrimination

Commissioner for Age Discrimination, Elizabeth Broderick, expressed deep concern in response to the National Seniors Australia Experience Works report, which makes it clear that mature age workers face a multitude of barriers to employment, including age discrimination.

“This report reinforces the position of the Australian Human Rights Commission – that unlawful age discrimination is a critical problem faced by mature age workers in Australia today,” said Commissioner Broderick.

“Not only do we need to raise awareness of the types of age discrimination that are unlawful, but we need to strengthen the laws that protect against it.

“As we know, the trend is now to extend our working lives past 65 – it is, therefore, vital that the Australian Government and employers take the problem of age discrimination very seriously”.

Ms Broderick said that, although many people choose to retire, the little-discussed reality is that it is a necessity for many mature age workers to keep working. Yet they can face significant hurdles in trying to do so.

“Everybody should be able to retire when they want to, but equally they should be able to continue working for as long as they need or want to, and we must seriously address the barriers that prevent people from doing so,” Commissioner Broderick said.

The Experience Works report states that the labour force participation rate for people aged between 55 and 64 in Australia is lower than in Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Iceland and New Zealand.

“This is an issue that needs urgent attention, not only because age discrimination and misconceptions about mature age workers are occurring in our workplaces right now, but because this is an issue that is very likely to confront anyone who stays in the workforce past 45 years of age – and let’s face it, that is a significant number of us,” Commissioner Broderick said.

Ms Broderick said that the problem of low labour force participation by mature age workers was one of the most hidden.

“As the Experience Works report makes clear, the level of underemployment and unemployment of mature age workers can be hidden in statistics about part-time and casual workers, though the reality may be that many of these workers are not receiving the hours that they need,” Ms Broderick said.

“We need to further investigate issues like this so we can start to address the problems that lead to low workforce participation of mature age workers”.

Commissioner Broderick said the Experience Works report highlighted the need for the Australian Government to recognize age discrimination as a significant barrier to mature age employment in this country, to commit to an extensive awareness-raising campaign addressing both the misconceptions surrounding mature age workers and the existence of laws that protect their rights, and to review these laws with a view to strengthening their effectiveness.