This was the title of a Channel 4 TV programme I watched yesterday, exposing the ageism that is rife among employers and recruitment agencies. A series of people were interviewed with ages ranging from early fifties to seventy. All of them had lost their jobs and were finding it virtually impossible to find another. Affected by the present financial crash, many of them needed to continue working to enhance their pensions and to pay their mortgages. Mostly however they just wanted to go on working -‘I wasn’t ready to go’, said one.
An experienced accountant of 56 and his daughter of 26 training for the same qualification, applied for similar jobs : she was given an interview, he was told the CV he had submitted had been lost. Excuses often concealed the real reason for rejections : ‘you are too experienced’, ‘you might not be comfortable with this job’, ‘there would be cultural differences’ and – most disingenuous of all – ‘here we work hard and play hard –would you be willing to join the five aside football club?’’ There were many stories of people struggling to present themselves for work against the prejudice of employers.
Knowledge and experience seemed of no importance.
The official age for retirement in the U.K. is 65, though I see this is being revised for some civil servants. The law was presumably intended to protect people from working longer than they want to, but is being interpreted by employers as a justification for obligatory retirement. The programme hinted at the wider economic and social issues raised here. It is estimated that by 2032 there will be six million more people over the age of 65 in the U.K., and this no doubt will be reflected in Spain and most other European countries. Many will not only want to work beyond the age of 65 but financially will need to.
What of young people who are trying to get work? Their situation can be dire with, for example, students still looking for work a year after they have graduated.
But older people feel that the job market is unfairly slanted in the favour of the young. The average age of employees in the top hundred firms in Britain is 34. The programme challenged the idea that the younger you are the more effective you are. The deciding factor is fitness and attitude. As we get older, the brain shrinks, but at the same time adapts to the situation. Older people can be more productive than younger ones, who tend to be off work because of sickness.
Ironically the programme was narrated by Moira Stuart, for many years a newsreader for the B.B.C. Explaining why she had been sidelined at the age of 55, effectively forcing her to resign, the Director -General said that ‘different’ journalistic skills were now required.
Another synonym for being ‘too old’?
Bryan
