“Older people continue to struggle for work as only one in ten think age discrimination law has helped them,” says TAEN report

“The majority of older jobseekers continue struggling against deeply embedded structural disadvantages and ingrained ageist attitudes in finding work,” concludes TAEN – The Age and Employment Network, publishing the most recent Survey of Jobseekers Aged 50+ today.

The survey shows that overwhelmingly, older jobseekers want work because of financial need, a desire to feel valued and the social interaction work brings. They are ‘worried’ or ‘desperate’ about not working and believe obstacles include adverse attitudes by recruiters, mismatches of skills or qualifications with employers’ needs and factors such as the national focus on youth unemployment.

Chris Ball, Chief Executive of TAEN commented,

“These obstacles continue more than six years after discrimination against older jobseekers was outlawed by the 2006 Age Regulations and two years after the Default Retirement Age, allowing people to be forcibly retired at 65, was ended. Our survey confirms that the challenge of ending age discrimination is as relevant as ever.”

The survey of 792 unemployed people seeking work, all aged fifty and older, showed 83 per cent of respondents felt they were regarded as ‘too old’ by recruiters with 72 per cent saying prospective employers saw them as ‘too experienced,’ or ‘over qualified.’ The figures contrast with much smaller percentages making the same claims in TAEN’s two previous surveys.[1]

Professor Wendy Loretto, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the University of Edinburgh Business School, commented,

“The survey also highlights differences between older men and women and across occupational groups, with women and those lower in the occupational hierarchy facing more barriers to gaining employment.  

"It is clear from the responses that older female jobseekers feel less confident in employers’ opinions of their skills and qualifications, and that women and men face different constraints regarding possible employment options.  Any policy interventions aiming to help older jobseekers should pay attention to this heterogeneity of preferences, needs and experiences. "

One startling finding is that only ten per cent of respondents agreed that age discrimination legislation had helped older people to find work, with 47 per cent, believing that it had not had any benefit at all. One respondent, a former managing director, commented, “Age discrimination is rife in my view. Employers can work out your age with ease.”

Some respondents volunteered the view that repeal of the DRA had made it harder to get work. One (a former HR manager) commented, “Given that compulsory retirement is now not available I suspect that many employers are reluctant to recruit older staff who, they fear, may present motivational  and even attendance issues in future.”

Another commented that removal of the default retirement age “has been counterproductive as it has made employers reluctant to take on older workers they may never get rid of.”

Commenting on these views, Chris Ball said, “From the perspective of some jobseekers, it may appear that ending the DRA has been dysfunctional. However the Office for National Statistics figures showing more people working beyond 65[2] and the fact that our most recent sample contained fewer jobseekers over 65 than in the two previous surveys suggests that people wanting to work longer are in the main staying put in their existing jobs. Nonetheless, it is difficult to ignore the powerful sentiments of the older jobseekers which suggest that the eradication of age discrimination in employment is a far from complete.”

“There is an urgent need to review the extent of both direct and indirect age discrimination in the recruitment process. It seems clear that the law is being flouted with impunity and there is a presumption that, ‘of course employers will discriminate by age if they wish to so.’”

“The Government’s satisfaction over the rising numbers of people working longer is inappropriate while there is so much more to do to effectively end direct discrimination against older jobseekers and eradicate the hidden barriers they face in the labour market.”