Do older people encounter difficulties when looking for a job?

As businesses and enterprises grow tremendously as time goes by, so do the employment opportunities for people, and the attractiveness of new jobs and new work ideas become increasingly appealing for people looking to overcome themselves in their respective fields. But what happens when the ones looking for new opportunities are people who are simply “older”? are they presented with the same amount of opportunities these new jobs offer to society? Sadly this happens to be a no.

With different opportunities out there it seems unlikely to find hardships when looking for a job. But the reality is different, for older people, job hunting in this new era has become more of a nightmare. Different studies have proven that companies disregard older applicants just because they’re simply older; it doesn’t have anything to do with their experience (that companies could benefit from) but rather with their age. Several surveys made by the University of Navarra (Spain) have claimed that the gap between older and younger workers has increased for different reasons. Some argue that the main reason is that the bigger companies believe that the “older applicants won’t be beneficial to the company”. This led to the belief of certain myths such as that these people won’t be accustomed to the company’s work environment, that they excel in experience and are more “inflexible” whereas the younger generation could be more flexible even though their experience is less. This way of thinking has purposely created an issue for almost 1.5 million workers in Spain who belong to this demographic.

A similar mindframe?

The point of inflection lies that some companies and part of the society believe that adding older workers could reduce the possibility of work for the younger generations landing on the concept of the “lumb of work fallacy”, thinking that there is just a particular amount of work and that once the quota is full you are out of chances to find a job harming senior workers. Economic experts believe that this mind frame affects the economy of a country. The AARP (A United States-based interest group focusing on issues affecting those over the age of fifty) issued a report stating that unemployment, or more likely the unemployment of older people citing age discrimination has led to a potential loss in the country’s GPD by almost 850$ million in 2018. This means that there is no actual benefit from assessing a younger staff for your company, if we see the bigger picture it creates more of an issue even if it’s not clear for us at that particular moment.

Many workers who have encountered this kind of discrimination have given their statements to media outlets to express their discomfort and a reality that for some is still unknown. An article published by Patricia Cohen for the New York Times revealed how senior workers, even though they are what a company expects of an applicant, are overlooked by their age.

The right path isn't always a smooth one

Although the International Labour Organization (ILO) a United Nations Agency that protects and ensures the rights of the workers in many countries have issued laws to watch over the millions of people who are part of a workforce that could be discriminated against by race, sex, age, beliefs and, etc falls short in terms of enforcement, citing that workers that do not know the law that shields them have affected them and that even with laws existing to protect senior workers, legal systems in some countries make it difficult to appeal to a court when looking for compensation, making the whole situation even more dreadful for the applicant.

Senior workers have given the economy in their “prime” years a boost that has created more jobs and opportunities for the rest. Still, time does not act kindly on anyone, and the perjury these great workers suffer it’s not their lack of adjustment in a new job or the typical “you’re not the kind of profile we’re looking for” line, it’s the lack of employment fairness in some countries that hide behind with the latter statement, the world has been changing for better in the last 20 to 30 years, every year major industries create innovative ways of doing work, merging future and an adequate human resource, but what is an “adequate human resource”? It’s the one solely created

by this millennial society? Or is it a group of individuals with knowledge or training for the role without taking into consideration their race, sexual orientation, or in this case... Age?

If we were to live in a world where we are doing everything to help each other and I believe we live in this world now, changing the game for older people in the working environment it’s crucial.

It is pretty often that we see older people taking up any kind of job for the sake of the survival of their household but many of them dream about a steady job where benefits are larger and the working environment is more fitting, but then again, this process is not an easy one, companies reducing the chances of a senior worker doesn’t prevent them from financial loss or successful work, it simply broadens an already big enough gap that ultimately harms the economy and welfare and potentially in a near future, your household.

(writing work submitted to Berkeley University of California for a MOOC)