Experience of Age Discrimination : the evidence
Discrimination is by definition hard to measure. It is not overt. Often it is unconscious rather than deliberate - a reflection of attitudes and stereotypes which only change gradually.
People aged 50-64 represent:
Unemployment statistics
Government statistics highlight age discrimination. The older the person, the longer they are likely to remain unemployed. Six out of ten people under the age of 50 who have been made redundant get back into work within a year; only one out of ten people over the age of 50 who are made redundant get back into work within a year.
Training statistics
A Government report showed that the over-50s arrive on training schemes with a lower level of prior formal qualifications, that they do as well as anyone else on the course but find it harder to get a job because of age barriers (Training Older Workers, QPID DfEE, 2000).
Age pay gaps
Those returning to the labour market following redundancy or other gap from work face a pay reduction compared to their previous job. This wage penalty has risen steadily over the last twenty years. In the case of under-50s the discount on the level of pay in a new job is 12% compared to pay in the last job. For those over age 45 it is now 26%, up from 12% in 1980 and reflecting prejudices about older workers (The Journal of The Centre for Economic Performance, 2001; Campbell, LSE, 1999).
CIPD Age Discrimination
at Work, Jan 2001:
In a survey of over 1,000 people the Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development found that:
Silicon Research Services,
October 2000:
In a study of the IT industry, two-thirds of a sample of 1,400
IT professionals thought they would be unable to get a job past
age 45. Union Network International, the authors, concluded that
ageism is "rife". Although two-thirds of IT firms have
difficulty recruiting, ageism was assessed as having an impact
after age 35.
NOP Monitoring the Code,
June 2000:
In its monitoring of the impact of the voluntary Code of Practice
on Age Diversity in Employment for the Department for Education
& Enterprise (DfEE), NOP found that:
Humberside TEC, The Lottery
of Age, 2000:
A Training & Enterprise survey of employers and individuals
in the Humberside area concluded, four years after the TEC's first
report on age diversity, that "ageism is rife".
Continental Research for
DfEE, June 2000:
Research for the former Department for Education & Enterprise
found that:
Carnegie UK Trust report,
June 2000:
In A Decade of Progress and Change, a report on ten years' activity
and action on third age issues by the Carnegie Trust, it noted
that "much remains to be achieved, with statistical measures
still pointing to significant exclusion of older people from the
economy and with Labour's pledge on legislation still unfulfilled".
Institute of Directors (IOD)
Report, May 2000:
From a survey sample of 500 IOD members
Research evidence
Mori Social Research Institute,
Dec 2002:
A survey of 2072 adults (aged 15 and over) found that ageism is
the most common form of workplace discrimination. 22% of people
have experienced workplace discrimination and of these, 38% said
it was because of their age. 38% of those said it happened during
recruitment, 25% during promotion processes and 25% during selection.
Norwich Union survey, Mar
2002
A survey of 300 employers found that 75% did not employ anyone
over 60. In contrast 80% of the same employers thought over 60s
could make a valued contribution to the work force.
Eden Brown employee survey,
Oct 2001:
A survey of 1,150 employees found that discrimination at work
on the basis of age was more common than on grounds of gender
or race.
Industrial Relations Service
(IRS), July 2001:
A survey of 105 firms employing over 1 million people found that
the voluntary Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment
had not changed the scene, that there is little or no training
for over-50s and that half of employees retire early.
Kingston University (Mark
Hart) May 2001:
A Third Age and Enterprise survey of clients of 140 Enterprise
Agencies and Business Links found that age discrimination was
a universal problem in the redundancy process.
NOP evaluation survey, Spring 2001: Evaluating the Government's voluntary Code of Practice on Age Diversity in Employment, NOP found that:
Nationwide Building Society,
March 2000:
Nationwide increased the proportion of over-50s in their workforce
from 1.5% to 9% between 1990 and 2000, demonstrating the impact
of a proactive employer policy on age diversity.
Office of National Statistics,
1999:
ONS reported in Social Focus on Older People that only 1 in 10
of those made redundant over the age of 45 ever return to a job.
This compares with 60% of under-45s, who find a new job within
3 months.
European Union, November
1999:
At an EU Employment Conference, it was reported that:
Sheffield Hallam University,
1999:
Research reported in The Detached Male Workforce concluded that:
Institute of Management,
1997:
In Breaking the Barriers, the Institute reported that:
Experience overseas
Commenting on the upturn in the percentage of older people working in the US, Professor Glennerster of the London School of Economics and Brookings said: "One is forced to conclude that the policy changes which the Americans made did actually work".
© TAEN February 2003
Third Age Employment Network, 207-221 Pentonville Rd, London N1
9UZ
tel: 020 7843 1590 email: taen@helptheaged.org.uk
