An aging workforce indicates that the average age of workers is increasing. This means that the present majority of workers in the United States are older than the majority of workers in previous years. Currently, 20% of workers are over the age of 65 and by 2020, 25% will be over the age of 55 (Overview, 2015). From 1994 to 2014, employees aged 65 to 74 increased 126% and employees 75 and older increased 117%. Regardless of what the actual numbers were in 1994 vs. 2014, this extreme increase means that the aging workforce is not slowing down anytime soon. Between 2012 and 2022, employees aged 65 to 74 are said to increase by another 72.1% and employees 75 and older are projected to increase by another 85.2%. Also, work schedules of employees
Many employers view the old employers especially the baby boomers as too rigid, failing health, lack of enthusiasm, afraid of new technologies, do not want to learn new training (stuck in old ways), and expensive to keep. Many aged people are viewing job advertisements with pictures of younger employees. In addition, the aged are facing high cost of medical insurance and healthcare. With the obstacles in the job market, the aged could possibly experience social isolationism, low self-esteem, and financial hardship.
Age discrimination in the workforce is a major issue in Today’s society. Although this is hardly ever mentioned, it is a concern that affects the aging population and their work performance. Those who are of old age are often not given a chance and looked down on. They are thought of as being mentally and physically in decline, less adaptable, unwilling to be trained, and costly to the organization. The elderly are considered “slow workers.” They are often forced to work extra hard to prove to their employer, they are capable of working as effective as the young. Defining someone’s work performance according to their age is against the law. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) addresses discrimination against the older population. This Act was passed by congress to ensure people of age 40 and older are given fair judgment in the workforce; however, the maturing population of baby boomers has led to an increasing number of elderly workers. This has cause age discrimination to rise. It is important that we review and analyze age discrimination has a political issues that must be changed. Although ADEA sets out to help the aging population, changes should be made within the employer. In order to seek change, one must first understand ADEA and how it promotes fair treatment for the elderly.
Dr. Murray works at Harvard for the School of Public Health and also studies the aging in the United States and their factors. His research has found that Asian American women who live in New Jersey live long then Native American men living in South Dakota because of Chronic Disease. Chronic disease is a long-lasting condition for human health that can for a lifetime. Chronic Disease is found in young and middle age men that have used tobacco or alcohol and have high blood pressure, low fruit and vegetable intake, and aren’t physical active. Wealthy people live longer than people in poverty because of their sources and health care they are provided with. Below median income Caucasian American living in rural area such as Minnesota, Iowa, North
It no stretch to see that the majority of workers nowadays are above forty. The population of youth is unable to get the jobs to support themselves and the seniors are given them instead due to more work experience and the fact that the better part
generation nearly approaches the age of 65, the increased evidence shows that many may need, or want depending on their life situations, to work beyond the standard retirement age of 65. One of the main reasons to continue work over 65 is that financial needs might be the single most important incentive to work longer. Even at today’s level of Social Security Benefits, many older Americans need to work as they have little income from other sources. One-Third of the population that is over the age of 65 relies on the benefits from Social Security for all their income
In Canada, the demographic of seniors, who are the age of sixty-five and older, is changing. With the changes in composition of senior population which they account for an ever-increasing proportion in Canada, people should pay more attention to this group. More specifically, with elder abuse. According to Statistics Canada (2010), there has been a steadily increase of the senior’s proportion in Canada, “since 1960, increasing from 8% at the time to 14% in 2009”; by 2036, seniors are projected to account “23% to 25%” of the Canadian population (p3, para.2). An individual might question the importance of these increase percentages in senior population? These number provides that as most of the Canadian population is growing, it may lead to an
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
American workforce is getting older. Fact, in between 1970 to 1991, the workforce number over the age of 40 in the U.S. has increased from 39,689,000 to 53,940,000. Because of that, the legislative and judicial developments in the age discrimination in employment have occurred (1). The baby-boomer generation - Americans born between 1946 and 1964 represents more than seventy million workers in the U.S. workplace, and that around 50 percent of the whole workforce. The whole baby-boomer generation since 2006 has falls under the protection of the federal laws against acts of discrimination based of age (ADEA) (2). In 2011 more than 40 million people in the United States are ages 65 and older. Moreover, this number will increase to 89 million and that is more than double by 2050. Age discrimination is continuing, as the workforce is growing old (3). A study by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the older workers unemployed longer than younger (4). "Age discrimination is harmful not only to the individuals who experience it. In 2004 alone, the cost of negotiated settlements of federal age discrimination complaints totaled $69 million" . Age discrimination is possibly the most damaging of the various cases of discrimination that occur in the workplace.
There is a controversial issue regarding ageism in older workers and youth employment. I believe this claim evenly has the pros and cons to both sides. Some people’s perspective is that the older employees are taking jobs from the younger workers, but this is not always the case. (statistic quote). Even though there is a law which forbids age discrimination, it is still happening today. Yes, it is true that the job market is more competitive that before, but this is due to a numerous amount of reasons. One of the biggest reasons as to why were younger workers have more of an opportunity to get hired is that in this day and age, everything is about technology. Most of the older workers are not technology savy, therefore, this enables younger
In 2015 Moody and Sasser reported: “For society, the decline in labor force participation represents a loss of productivity by older people - a group that, on average, is now living longer, is better educated, and is in better health than ever before’” (p. 391).
Workers under the age of 25 and over the age of 45 are expected to increase. The youth labor force, made up of 16- to 24-year-olds, is expected to be steady with the total labor force with an anticipated 15% rise within the next 10 years. Most of the growth within the labor market comes from 25- to 54-year-olds, also known as prime-age workers. “38 million prime-age workers and 1.7 million workers over the age of 54 joined the labor force, while reductions in the youth labor
Aging population can be used as an advantage to increase economic rates growth by keeping them employed as long as possible (Nankervis et al. 2006, p.55). People who are working in a knowledge fields may increase their performance with age, however for more physical positions there is an opposite possibility of low performance with increasing age (Patrickson & Ranzijn, 2006). Consequently, specific jobs may have lack of professional employees. For example by separating workers and using older workers as experience type that can teach and train young employees, as well as use their knowledge will benefit organization in different departments. Also by using younger workers as routine workers or in more physical positions that are hard to perform for older employees will give them opportunity to earn more experience and will keep older employees working as well (Patrickson & Ranzijn, 2006). It is necessary for human resources to distribute their workforce accordingly and to provide required training for their young and old employees.
Training an aging work force is another of the challenges businesses currently face and will continue to deal with over the course of the next decade. The types of training aging employees require is not only to keep skills current in order to perform everyday tasks, but to also provide new career paths and new skills that are necessary due to changing technology (Rosen & Jerdee, 1990). Although the cost associated with training is currently the burden of the employer, it is considered to be an investment in improved performance, productivity, and employee moral (O’Keefe,
There seems to be many key issues that come along with an aging workforce. Not only do companies and management have to worry about losing qualified workers as they come into retirement age, they are finding out that the pool of qualified workers is getting smaller. Also, many of the retirement eligible workers are staying in the workforce. Management is forced to look at this aging population in a multitude of ways to figure out how to keep their own productivity and profitability on track. I will look at different thoughts about the aging workforce and how management can cope with the changing landscape.
It is time for employers to start responding to the potential consequences of the ageing workforce on their businesses. If not well-prepared, employers may find themselves suddenly faced with labour loss, experience and expertise that will be difficult to offset, given the relatively small pool of new employees. With many companies facing the same problem, competition for new talents is likely to surface.