The number of older workers in the workforce
has increased since the economic downturn, as many older workers postpone their
plans for retirement. However,
many of these workers also face increasing bias from colleagues and employers,
and this discrimination can range all the way from lower pay and promotion
opportunities, to insults, and jeers on the job.
A new study recently found that approximately
two thirds of workers between the age of 45 and 74 admitted to having either
seen or experienced age bias in the workplace. The study, which was conducted by the AARP, found that a
majority of senior workers believe that age discrimination is not only alive,
but also thriving in the workplace.
Out of these, two thirds of seniors who admitted that they saw or experienced
age discrimination in the workplace,
as many as 92% said that it is very or somewhat common.
According to the study, the earliest point at
which a worker can begin to experience age-related bias is when he enters his
50s. However, many respondents in
the survey also believed that age bias can be seen much earlier. As many as 20% of the respondents said
that they had experienced or seen workplace age-based discrimination when a
worker reaches his 30s or 40s. The
majority of opinions however was that age bias creeps in when a person enters
his 50s.
The types of discrimination vary. About one in five said that that they
had not been hired for a job that they were qualified for based on their age,
while 12% were passed up for a promotion because they were too old. About 9% of the people were fired
because of their age.
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