Older male workers ‘biggest victims’
Male workers, aged 50 years and over on average salaries, are reportedly the biggest victims of age discrimination, a recent study shows. More than one-third of workers in this age group, earning about $70,000, are reported as having experienced age-related discrimination after 500 workers were surveyed.
Male workers, aged 50 years and over on average salaries, are reportedly the biggest victims of age discrimination, a recent study shows.
More than one-third of workers in this age group, earning about $70,000, are reported as having experienced age-related discrimination after 500 workers were surveyed.
Figures released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed 18% of unemployed people, aged 45 years and over, believed the main reason they had difficulty finding work was because employers considered them “too old”.
The survey – ‘Attitudes to Older Workers’ – conducted by Financial Services Council, finds three in 10 of the surveyed workers aged 50 and over had suffered age discrimination.
The most common form of age discrimination is said to be being sacked or made redundant before others. Inflexible employer attitudes of white-collar men also contribute to problems of unfair treatment and early retrenchment of older workers.
The survey’s responses from human resource managers and recruiters reveals older workers have become “more exposed” to discrimination since the global financial crisis.
“Rather than keep older workers on or retrain them, it is often far cheaper to simply retrench them,” the report states.
Other employer representatives’ responses include how older workers need to “accept the reality that the days of a ‘job for life’ in one’s 50s and 60s are over”.
The findings also reveal aged discrimination may be a result of the “cult of youth” among manager and executives aged 30 to 50 years, who reportedly often prefer to “deal with” people the same age or younger.
Have you, or someone you know, experienced age discrimination in the workplace? Share your thoughts on this topic by commenting in the box below.
