(p. A3) Using a method of uncovering discrimination well known in economics, David Neumark, an economist at the University of California at Irvine, led a study that sent out 40,000 fake résumés to employers who had posted openings. Mr. Neumark and his co-authors found that résumés suggesting an applicant was 64 to 66 years old got a response 35 percent less often than résumés suggesting that the applicant was 29 to 31.
Labeling it discrimination is another matter, however. “The one thing that people always point out is that acceptability for age stereotyping is extremely high,” Mr. Neumark said. “The number of people who make age-related jokes are way more frequent than people who make race-related jokes. For whatever reason, the social stigma for age discrimination is really weak.”
Aside from fairness, evidence suggests that finding ways to keep older Americans working has benefits to the broader society: Working keeps older Americans happier, healthier and more mentally engaged. And forestalling retirement could relieve some of the pressure a large aging population places on this country’s social safety net.
“Governments all over the world are trying to figure how to get old people to stay at work longer,” Mr. Neumark said. “If we have discriminatory barriers, then all these reforms will be less effective.”
For the full story, see:
Quoctrung Bui. “As More Older People Look for Work, They Are Put Into ‘Old Person Jobs’.” The New York Times (Thurs., AUG. 18, 2016): A3.
(Note: the online version of the article has the title “More Older People Are Finding Work, but What Kind?”)
The Neumark paper mentioned above, is:
Neumark, David, Ian Burn, and Patrick Button. “Experimental Age Discrimination Evidence and the Heckman Critique.” American Economic Review 106, no. 5 (May 2016): 303-08.