Survey breaking age discrimination

The findings of a survey, designed to better understand barriers faced by matureage workers, reveals 83% of older job seekers believe age discrimination is rife in Australian workplaces.

The federal government yesterday released the findings of the first national survey of the employment barriers faced by mature age workers to help inform policies to attract more mature age workers into the workforce.

“We have an ageing workforce which means there are up to 3.8 million mature age Australians, many who still want to work and be part of the economy, but are facing barriers,” Acting Prime Minister, Wayne Swan, says.

“This survey will help us better understand barriers faced by matureage Australians so that we can get more Australians into work and tap into the valuable pool of mature workers who have so much experience and knowledge to contribute to our economy.”

The federal government funded national survey was managed by the Productive Ageing Centre, with more than 3,000 Australians aged from 45 to 74 participating in the survey.

Some of the key findings of the survey include:

• Illness, injury and disability was reported as preventing one-fifth of the total population aged 45 to 74 years from working or looking for work in the past five years.
• 36% of job seekers reported having experienced exclusion while looking for a job in the past five years and attributed it to their age.
• Caregiving responsibilities are reported as preventing around one-third of caregivers from working or working more hours.

Minister for Employment Participation, Kate Ellis, calls for businesses to “rethink their attitudes and policies towards matureage workers”.

“The federal government’s programs and relationships with business are already providing more support for older workers – but we still have more to do,” Ms Ellis says.

“The survey tells us flexibility in the workplace – particularly for caregivers and people with an injury, disability or a health condition – is essential if we are to support matureage workers.”

From 1 January 2013, older job seekers will be given additional support through the $26 million ‘Silver Service—Job Seeker Assistance’ program.