Discrimination Against The Older Population

As people get older, life can get more complicated. When one ages, one is more prone to more negative experiences such as death of loved ones or an incident that is life changing. According to this article written by Jane E. Brody, such experiences can effect one’s ability to work the same job they have been working for 30 plus years (2016). However, many as a society hold the assumption that older adults lack the ability to recreate their vocational experience and instead should “settle down” and retire. Realistically, however, many older adults are not economically stable to retire. Jane E. Brody argues that changing your career to something that is fulfilling to an aging adult can not only be possible, but highly satisfying and beneficial.

Ageism is “discrimination against older people.” (Webster’s, 2003) The words age and racism combined to define this prejudice. There are studies that show one in every five workers in the United States are over fifty-five. Around sixty percent of workers state they have experienced ageism in the workplace. (North, 2013)

America’s motto is based upon a strong belief of freedom and liberty for all, but does everyone truly receive these benefits? When looking in America’s past one sees that these perfect ideals are hardly met by historical records of discrimination and racism throughout the past. Although not as ambiguous, the following show that race, gender inequality and discrimination still pose issues in America’s culture and are prevalent in today’s society

However that is not the case in today’s society amongst seniors. Seniors still have the desire to work or they actually have to work in order to sustain their own well-being. In this article it discusses the motive for what drives seniors to continue working, “Polling of CARP members shows that about half of seniors want to work and half need to work, Eng says. Those who choose to work enjoy the sense of engagement and contribution that paid employment brings” (Luke, 2014). This context ties in with the age stratification theory, which states that it “focuses on the movement of age cohorts over the life course” (Novak et al., 2014 p.26). Seniors wish to continue working which will cause conflicts between two age cohorts. Age cohorts are defined as a group of people born in the same period of time (Novak et al., 2014 p.26). Baby boomers are individuals born after World War 2 and the younger individuals are either from the MTV generation or boomerang generation Younger generations whom are searching for job opportunities will be facing further competition. The notion of old age in previous is to stop working and retire. However this article states that “The idea in the past that at a certain age you just quit — you stop working, stop dressing, stop getting engaged in politics — is changing,” The agenda for seniors now is to continue working rather than

North America is experiencing a rapid growth in its elderly population. For instance, as of 2001, seniors accounted for 13% of the Canadian population and projections indicate that this number will rise to 25% by 2036 (Chappell, McDonald, &, Stones, 2003). This rapid expansion necessitates a critical understanding of the requirements of the elderly and removing obstacles that hinder people from reaching their full potentials in later years.

Does aging reduce the work effectiveness of older workers? In this fast-growing economy, many people believe that older workers should stop working at a certain age because younger workers will keep up with rapid economic development better. Lois Lowry describes this discrimination in The Giver when citizens get older, they give up their jobs, and are treated as children instead of knowledgeable individuals to maintain the sameness in the community. Similarly, because of ageism, modern society falsely limits the opportunities of the group of older workers. The misunderstood perception in the present can be against themselves in the future because most people, who are lucky to live long, will join the group of

Many employers see their older workers as someone who just comes in but they think of the younger workers as go getters that will do

I was born during the baby boomer era, and it is for this reason that I focus on the position of people aged 55 and over in the market today. People my age have been hit with the socio-economic and financial crisis, which contributed unemployment and long term unemployment. And unfortunately this is a primarily problem, I do not want to become one of the unemployed elderly because that I am not the right fit because of my age. There are a number of stereotypes that profess a key obstacle to employment of persons aged 55 and over. These stereotypes suggest that older workers: are not as interested in learning new skills, are not physically energetic and mentally ready to respond to the stresses of their jobs, and time would be a wasted in training

(Bureau of Labor Statistics). It’s almost hard for the elderly to find jobs because the jobs these days are more hands on and they aren’t that fit to do them. One-third of senior households has no money left over each month or is in debt after meeting essential expenses. (Institute on Assets and Social Policy) they live on a budget and that would be hard for them having to pay to get places when they could ride free. Some elderly probably wouldn’t ride the bus. there are many challenges and opportunities of an aging population. In addition to increasing the strain on government -sponsored programs like medicare, Medicaid, and social security, the retirement of this large group of Americans could also create significant losses in productivity as well as specialized skills upon which many of our companies depend(Haerens). Many people are retiring and getting old themselves and they can’t do everything we can so they go into health programs for them. The science of health promotion and risk factor reduction, coupled with advancement in medicine, have made it possible for a large percentage of the population to live out their lives in functional and productive ways(Haerens). The elderly may take more medication to just get by for them having

I understand in structuring ethics, society has a moral code in writing rules that outline the way we behave. Laws such as Fair Labor Standard Act passed in 1938 has helped to improve employees' pay. The critics argue a transparent pay creates fair pay structure where employees have the opportunity to monitor, complain and report any unfair pay dealings (Kim, 2015, 652). Such historic, ethical dilemma impacted the society. For instance, an employer that violates the law faces the consequence. The result of some employers hiring younger workers. I read from an article has created fear for some reaching forty especially without a job due to not finding employment. The good news, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, passed in 1967 prohibits companies refusing an individual over forty a job, training, fair pay, even a promotion.

Aging! We all do it every day, but have you ever thought how it is going to affect the rest of your life or more importantly your career? Aging isn’t something that we get to choose if we participate in, however working is, and aging may affect that choice. Right now, I want you to think about the age of sixty-five. What words pop into your head when you think of someone sixty-five? I’d imagine some of the words you thought of were retired, old, fragile, slow, as well as many others. Those words right there all help to explain the many concerns that one’s employer may have when hiring someone that is of the older population. When we think of the older population in the work force we don’t necessarily think of positive things, instead we think of things. When we think of this population in the workforce we generally think of lower production rates and higher costs. These can create issues among the older population, as employers must consider all the possibilities when hiring someone. We know that more people in the older population are continuing to try to continue their careers, but why? How hard is it for them to continue? What changes have made it easier? How are the younger and middle aged populations perceiving them in the work place? This are only some of the many question surrounding the increase of aged workers.

Aging can be considered a natural occurrence; it affects the health of an individual and the quality of life they live. Occupationally, a part of aging that is inevitable is retirement. There isn’t a definitive answer for retirement because different groups and individuals may have different perspectives of what retirement means to them. However, what remains concrete, is that retirement provides many people the opportunity to do things they want to do rather than things they must do (Kail and Cavanaugh, 2013).

This has pushed the typical retirement ages of workers done work to the late 50s and early 60s (Nelson, 2004, p174). According to the report in a book titled "Age Discrimination in the American Workplace: Old at a Young Age", Joseph Bartek, an employee of the URA, Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittburgh, was demoted after a thirty year position, due to a budgetary reason, and then five years later been denied promotions 5 five times for thirty year old individuals who are not as qualified as Bartek (Gregory, 2001, p88, 89).Older individuals often face common stereotypes and misperceptions generalized about their skills, abilities based on age, and certain negative attitudes from youngsters. People of old age are discriminated against on the basis of the assumptions that are they are unable to learn new things, less productive than younger workers and more likely to miss work because of sickness and set in their ways (Schulz, 2006, p43). Another example of common evidence of stereotype is compared with younger workers, older workers are less motivated, less willing to engage in training and career development, not as trusting, and more vulnerable to work and family conflicts (Ng and Feldman,

he term ageism refers to discrimination and prejudice against the elderly. The term was introduced into the American vocabulary in 1971 by Robert Neil Butler, MD (January 21, 1927 – July 4, 2010). He was the first director of the National Institute on Aging. According to Doctor Butler, the three primary prejudicial attitudes seem to be: (1) old age, and the aging process; (2) discriminatory practices against older people; and (3) institutional practices and policies that perpetuate stereotypes about older people. Much of what passes for knowledge and understanding of aging are myths, misleading information, or just bad information.

Although mandatory retirement is not largely popular, it still has an effect on many older workers and how they plan for retirement. "Mandatory retirement involves less than 1 percent of the work force and so opens up only a small fraction of the total jobs", because