Ageism in the Workforce

By Mary Eby

Throughout history, prejudice and discrimination has always burned strong. However, in today’s world, a somewhat new type of discrimination has risen up, ageism. 

A focus is alway put on the well known types of discrimation such as racism and sexism. While these issues do deserve to have a spotlight on them in order to be solved, it can sometimes overshadow other important issues. 

Ageism is the discrimation against a person due to their age; because they are too young or too old. Ageism has always been an issue, but with the developments in technology and society, it has recently grown to become worse and worse. While ageism is seen everyday in the small things like social media and in families, usually as jokes, there is an area where it is quite serious, the workplace.

The difficulty for an individual to find a job in this country fluctuates constantly. But, it is even harder for those who are freshly entering the workplace, or are coming back after a long absence. For people of an older age, they are often considered to be out of the loop of technology and new advancement in how the workforce is run. This becomes an issue because there is a significant chunk of Americans who choose to take an indefinite leave of absence for reasons such as wanting to raise a child through their entire childhood. No matter how extraordinary the person’s résumé may be, an older age and a large gap since a recent job seems to stand out like a sore thumb when in truth, people of an older age could actually be the perfect people for certain jobs if employers were willing to catch them up with the new equipment and given the same opportunities as other job searchers in the same field.

It is not only people of older ages who struggle to find jobs, however. On the other end of the spectrum, young people, especially those freshly entering the workforce, also struggle to find jobs. While older people are turned away despite having work experience under their belt; younger people seem to be turned away for having little to no experience. Adults coming straight out of schooling are bound to have little work experience in the field they plan to enter, they are only just starting out. But without experience, employers are hesitant to hire. Ageism could be at work here, not only because people are being turned away under unfair circumstances, but because some employers also like to associate young people with incompetence and unreliability for no valid reason other than the stereotypes of the younger generations. 

Ageism is a true issue that is affecting many people everyday. The failure to obtain a good job can hurt someone’s way of life along with many other aspects of society. Discrimation due to age can not only hurt a person, but also a company. Being skeptical of hiring a person due to their age is valid, but it should not be the sole reason for not hiring a person, there are many people of the young and old generations who could thrive if only given the chance to do so.