At a meeting held in Washington, D.C. entitled ‘The ADEA @ 50—More Relevant Than Ever’, which took place on June 14, experts told the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that age discrimination and typecasting of older workers continues to steer older workers out of the workplace – thus limiting further economic growth.
Acting EEOC Chair, Victoria A. Lipnic stated, “With so many more people working and living longer, we can’t afford to allow age discrimination to waste the knowledge, skills, and talent of older workers.” She went on to add that “….outdated assumptions about age and work deprive people of economic opportunity and stifle job growth and productivity”.
In a 2017 AARP Foundation study, nearly two-thirds of workers age 55-64 reported that their age is a barrier to getting a job. Laurie McCann, a senior attorney for AARP Foundation Litigation, stated that hiring discrimination and obligatory retirement are constant problems that older workers face across industries. She called on the EEOC to strengthen ADEA protections and enforcement, saying, “The ADEA should not be treated as a second-class civil rights statute,” and went on to tell the Commission, “On this 50th Anniversary of the ADEA, AARP Foundation urges the EEOC to take bolder action to ensure older workers are treated fairly at work.”
Jacqueline James of The Center on Aging & Work at Boston College said that “….employers have been slow to innovate,” as far as it relates to addressing older workers’ preferences in recruitment and hiring; retention and preventing age bias. The Center and AARP have teamed up to develop a standard tool to assist employers to manage the current multigenerational workforce as experts anticipate that the older worker population will continue to grow.
A director of the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement, Sara Czaja, told the Commission that research has disproved assumptions that older workers are less productive, technophobic or inflexible. She illustrated the practical ways in which employers better integrate older workers into the workforce - by recognizing their value and by complementing their skills and abilities with work environments. She said, “Unfortunately, numerous negative stereotypes about older workers still exist that often prevent or have a negative impact on employment opportunities for older people. These stereotypes can also prevent organizations from realizing the wealth of positive assets, such as wisdom, experience, and reliability that older workers can bring to the table.”
John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. informed the Commission that a combination of communal tradition and damaged business practices “….that channel older people out of the workforce, especially skilled workers, is damaging the economic health of our country.” He quoted this from the Bureau of Labor Statistics data and went on to suggest that if older workers were allowed to remain in the workforce, it would significantly reduce the skilled worker shortage in the United States.
