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Posts Tagged Age Discrimination

AARP: Unemployment For Older Americans Surged 331 Percent Over Past Decade

Mar 5

Posted by Boomer in Economy | No Comments

Unemployment for Americans 55 and older surged 331 percent over the past decade, according to a new analysis by the AARP Public Policy Institute.

“The data clearly shows that older workers have faced a devastating rise in unemployment, with far-reaching implications not only for their employment status but also for their health and retirement security,” said AARP spokeswoman Mary Liz Burns. Burns added that unemployment puts a particularly tough squeeze on middle-aged folks — who often have to provide for kids moving back home after college and elderly parents.

According to AARP, from January 2000 through December 2009, the total number of unemployed individuals 55 and older rose from 490,000 to 2,114,000. The number of unemployed 65 and up rose from 143,000 to 479,000. And the average duration of unemployment for people 55 and up increased 85.6 percent from 18.7 weeks to 34.7 weeks. For people older than 64, the duration went up almost a third, from 24.8 weeks to 32.9 weeks.
huffingtonpost.com

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Retirement age ‘should be scrapped’

Jan 25

Posted by Boomer in Retirement | No Comments

Equality commission says an aging population and increased willingness among older people to work should see default retirement age scrapped

Hilary Osborne and agencies

Workers should be able to stay in their jobs beyond the age of 65, and employers should be incentivised to allow older employees to work flexibly, the UK’s equality watchdog said today.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said the ageing population and an increased willingness to work among older people meant it was time for the government to scrap the default retirement age, a law which allows firms to force staff to finish work at 65.

It said scrapping the rule would remove the “safety net” for employers and encourage more radical approaches to issues such as flexibility, handling the performance of workers of all ages, and improving occupational health.
guardian.co.uk

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Aging Singapore – a business issue

Jan 14

Posted by Boomer in Uncategorized | No Comments

In my two years living in Singapore, I’ve had many opportunities to exchange with local taxi drivers. One of my first questions is always to find out how long they’ve been a cabbie for. It’s by no means statistical but I’ve noted that most of them are male, in their sixties (and sometimes seventies) who started in the taxi trade after being retrenched from their last job, as a result of the past or current economic downturns.

For a lot of them, it seemed the best option as they were finding it hard to get new employment because of their age. Most of them are working to earn an income as they feel their existing personal savings, assets and Central Provident Fund (Singapore social security savings plan) are not sufficient to cover their financial needs.
csr-asia.com

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Older and seeking a job? Work around age bias, experts advise

Dec 6

Posted by Boomer in Uncategorized | No Comments

Gary Bennett is 58. For prospective employers, his age shouldn’t matter — but Bennett believes it does.

Technically, age discrimination is illegal beginning at age 40. Lawsuits usually involve an older worker who is laid off while younger employees are not. But proving discrimination in a job search is difficult.
twincities.com

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