UPDATE – Ageism | Job-hogging over-50s

BBC News – Should job-hogging over-50s all resign?

Too few jobs. Rising unemployment, especially for young people. Here’s a radical solution, says commentator on office and workplace life, Lucy Kellaway of the Financial Times (born 1959).

Wasting time on the internet recently I came upon a nasty statistic. In the next 10 years, there will be 1.2bn young people looking for work and only 300m jobs to go around.

Next to this stark stat was an invitation to write an essay on what you would do to solve the problem.

My essay is quite short and can be summarised in one word.

Resign.

This inescapable, awkward truth has been rammed home to me in the past few months as I keep meeting bright people in their 20s and 30s desperate for a job in journalism – and for mine in particular.

I fob them off with platitudes but the real reason they can’t do my job is that I’m doing it myself.

The same is true for almost all professions. The young can’t advance because everywhere they find my complacent generation is in situ. Thus the only way of solving the problem is to make everyone of a certain age, say over 50, walk the plank….

Read More @ BBC News – Should job-hogging over-50s all resign?.

UK | Ageism is back

After receiving thousands of rejection letters, 60-year-old Anthony Barlow decided to conduct an experiment. He had been on the dole for more than a year and was becoming convinced his age was the reason. So he responded to a job advert with two applications: one with his real age and another with a date of birth of 1989. He edited his years of experience and qualifications accordingly.

It was no surprise when his less-qualified 23-year-old alter ego got an interview, while Barlow was told he didn’t reach the required standard. “I do believe there is ageism and now I’ve tested it,” he said. “I almost feel like giving up. Young people can’t get employment, so what chance have I got?”…

Barlow is not alone. The over-50s are the worst-hit age group when it comes to long-term unemployment. It is a trend that economists warn will cost the economy dear as the population ages.

Because of the stalled economic recovery the problem is getting worse. The number of over-50s out of work for more than a year has doubled since the start of the recession to stand near a 15-year high, according to official statistics…

Source:

Read More @ Employers accused of ageism as over-50s struggle to get back into work | Society | The Observer.

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