Since the start of the Great Recession beginning in late 2007, there has been an increase of employment for people over the age of 55. These older employees have retained and found employment for differing and various reasons. It has been predicted that people over the age of 55 will increase in the representation of the American workforce in the next decade. Surprisingly older workers have been found to have been more persistent in finding employment and remaining employed more so than their younger competition (McMahon 141). Because of this new trend, many countries have come to rely on these older employees emerging in the workforce.
According to the AARP 20% of America's workforce is expected to be over the age of 55 by the year 2015, with an increase of 50% happening in 2014. This increase of people over the age of 55 in the workforce will naturally lead to a decrease in younger employees, aged 25-54 ( McMahan 50). Because of a longer life expectancy in the United States, our aging population will in turn create an aging workforce. Beginning in 1948 employees over the age of 55 steadily decreased until 1993 and up until the Great Recession beginning in 2007. Between the years of 1993 and 2007 there was an increase in the aging workforce of 9.3%, which was higher among women, with a 10.4% increase, than men, having a 7.6% increase. These treads are illustrated in the chart below (McMahon 141-142).
Typically the attachment to the labor market gradually declines among people between the ages of 55 and 64, contrary to employees within the prime working years of 26-54. The increase of employees over the age of 55 since the start of the Great Recession directly affects this and makes the norm of people over the age of ...
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While todays workplace has progressed many people experience bias throughout their career. In an article called “Ageism and Bias in the American Workplace”, the author discusses the dominant demographic in certain lines of work. Whether by age, gender, or ethnicity some may find difficulty finding work. In this article it discusses the bias against older workers. It was found that employers were less likely to hire someone older in assumption that production would decrease resulting in a decrease in profit, but it was discovered the older workers were more long term employees. (Ageism and Bias in the American Workplace, 2015) Although Jurgis was hired quickly at the meat packing plant due to his stature, his extended family (some of the women and children) had difficulty having the same
(Bendick, Brown & Wall, 1999). A new awareness of older workers has emerged as retiring
In contrast the Power of Baby Boomer generation is slowly dying off and how many are there and how will contract the effect of America’s workforce. The Boomers are now at 74.9 million and are beginning to retire. They were the largest generation that had its highest numbers at 78.8 million in 1999. The near 79 million were born from 1950-1965. The productivity is expected to decrease to 16.6 million by 2050. The traditional and social hierarchies of this generation will go with
Lorenzi, Peter. "The American Dream And The Middle-Aged." Society 51.1 (2014): 2-7. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
Age discrimination is a growing concern in our society, having significant consequences in denying an increasing proportion of the population the right to work. The percentage of older adults (65 and over) in Canada has risen from 8% in 1971 to a rate of 14% in 2011. This number is expected to steadily rise to a rate of 24.7% (roughly 1 in 4) by the year 2051 (Canada, 2014). Not only is this high rate concerning when considering the availability of future job positions, but this is especially concerning when, as the Ontario Human Rights Commission has determined that “age discrimination is often not taken as seriously as other forms of discrimination” (OHRC, 2014).
Herman, Catherine. "U.S. Unprepared for Impact of Aging Population on Health Workforce According to UAlbany Center for Health Workforce Studies." University at Albany. N.p., 5 Apr. 2006. Web.
Allison, Sheila. "Employment and the Millenials." Youth Studies Australia, June 2013, p. 81+. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=cazc_main&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA371968003&it=r&asid=828e2a7f179c33dbd33a4bdf9bed26a0.
Diversity can be differences in age, gender, ethnicity, and religion. Having such a diverse workforce can be very challenging. (1) Today’s workforce is very diverse in respect to age. Before, corporate America consisted of workers ranging from twenty one up to late thirties to early forties. Now, we see people in their mid to late fifties going back to work. This trend has both advantages and disadvantages. One advantage of an older employee over a younger employee is his ability to use his years of experience in situations where a younger employee lacks experience. Another advantage for an older employee is his built relationship with existing customers. The disadvantage of an older employee over a younger employee is his inability to quickly adapt to his changing environment. Younger employees are more “hungry” compared to their older counter parts. Their hunger is fired by their goal to quickly move up the corporate ladder.
"The Aging Workforce." NTAR Leadership Center/U.S Department of Labor, 2007. Web. 17 Dec. 2013. .
The majority of people age 65 or older in the United States are still working in full time positions. This opens the question if they planned for retirement, or what if anything went wrong while working? How do they feel about still having to work? Have they taken proper steps in preparing for retirement? Are they only working to pass time? These are the questions that everyone should be asking themselves about their own retirement plans, and what they have done to financially prepare for that stage in their life.
This strategy aims to employ workers from different backgrounds to provide tangible and intangible benefits for the business. The employers are the ones who control everything from the wage, promotions, incentives and the termination of the older counterparts. They are increasingly concerned about updated skills, physical demands, early retirement, and the cost of maintaining an older worker. Despite how employers may feel, companies cannot afford to neglect talent at any age. The employer should take advantage of the skills that the older employee posses, and carefully position them in jobs that matches their skill level as well as the job to be done. “Regardless of the change organizations make in the structure and functioning of the workplace of the future, it appears likely that older workers will play a crucial role (Hedge,Borman,& Lammlein, 2006). Different acts and laws are governed to respond to any discrimination against older employees in the workforce. Employment agencies, labor unions, local, state and Federal government are bound by these laws such as: Older Workers Benefits Protection Act (OWBPA); The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Older Americans Act (OAA), to name a few. Funds for service by the Congress are provided in forms of grants for various programs yearly. States, counties, and cities recognize the value of the servicing and are generous in providing additional funds, benefits and in-kind economic benefits too. Because area and state agencies on aging are doing very little in a way to use mass media to promote themselves, the aging network is probably missing a large number of disadvantage people who should be receiving services but who are unaware of them. Much more emphasis has been placed on tying together the federal services for the older workers, but it should not have taken a federal initiative to make states see
Aging in the workplace is a serious issue. Canada’s workforce is aging quickly and with this come conflicts, physical issues, and a whole variety of other problems. The reason that aging in the workplace is such a big issue in Canada is that a large portion of Canada’s workforce is made up of people born after World War Two, referred to as the “baby boomers”. According to Stats Canada one in four workers is the age of 55 or older. From 2001 to 2009, the number of workers that were 55 or older almost doubled with no signs of slowing down. Another startling statistic states that by 2021 approximately one quarter of Canada’s workforce could be aged 55 or older. These statistics, while startling, may not be as concerning as other issues that will
Regardless of what you hear, there are definite age and gender discrimination in certain sectors of employment. Many employment opportunities stress the need for younger applicants, so those beyond the age of 40 have a more difficult time finding a job.Those in midlife who are more financially prepared can expect their standard of living and opportunities to continue into old age. But those men and women affected by the economic downturn may have to work well into their 70's to maintain a reasonable standard. Older women especially are faced with an economic dilemma since they may have spent much time out of the workforce raising a family or working in lower paying jobs.
Changes in demographics affect the work force in that the number of mature and elderly workers is more than the number of the youth. A typical aging workforce is characterized by an increase in the number of older workers and low rates of entry into the workforce by the youth. This forces organizations, both private and governmental to change their policies to cater for the aging workforce. The effect that the aging revolution has on the composition of the workforce is that in the near future, the number of elderly workers will be more than that of youth workers. By the time the elderly workers reach the age of retirement, therefore, there will be a sharp decrease in the number of workers available in countries all over the world. Another risk associated with aging revolution is the increase of the number of workers who attain the age of retirement coupled by the few number of entrants into the
“The proportion of the elderly aged 65 and over has increased by 47% from 1974 to 2014, while the number of the elderly takes up almost 18% of the total population in 2014 in the UK” (ONS, 2015), it means that the ageing population may change the age structure of the UK population and the number of retired people might increase. Because of this, the demand of labor force might be also on the rise .The shortage of the labor force might make it difficult for the government to support funding for caring the elderly, such as retirement pension, health care and social care. Furthermore, Christensen et al. (2009) considers that there are few young people to support the rapid growth of older people because of the increase of the life