Subscribe to RSS
- Nick Elvin
Older jobseekers are facing widespread discrimination in the UK, and female applicants over 50 are more likely to experience bias than men, according to new research.
Using carefully constructed CVs, researchers at Anglia Ruskin University’s Lord Ashcroft International Business School applied for 1,836 jobs advertised between July 2013 and May 2015.
One set of CVs were for a 28-year-old and the other for a 50-year-old applicant, and the CVs featured almost identical skills and interests. Despite the older applicant having significantly more experience than the younger candidate, overall they were 4.2 times less likely to be offered an interview.
And the difference was even more pronounced for women, with the 50-year-old female candidate 5.3 times less likely to get an interview than the 28-year-old female.
Jobs in the factory and industrial sector had the highest barrier to entry, with the 50-year-old female applicant being 25 times less likely to be offered an interview.
Meanwhile, older male applicants were 3.6 times less likely to be offered an interview than their younger counterpart.
The research was led by Dr Nick Drydakis, reader in economics at Anglia Ruskin University. He said: “Our study suggests that work is becoming less age-friendly, not more, and that older people have to spend more time and effort than younger people to obtain an interview.
“Unfortunately workforce ageing is still often viewed negatively by those working in HR, who focus on difficulties and conflicts instead of potentials and opportunities. Those involved in recruiting need to be trained to carry out age-sensitive selection processes, and the Government should require firms to have ‘ageing at work’ policies.
“With an ageing population and the official retirement age creeping upwards, this is an issue that needs to be tackled. Simply encouraging older people to re-enter the labour force may not guarantee that they will be able to find jobs in a timely manner, if at all.”
Responding to the study, Andrew Crudge, employment specialist associate at law firm Thomas Eggar LLP, said age discrimination against job applicants is evidently still widespread.
“New research confirms what was already widely suspected: older applicants are far less likely to be offered a job interview compared to their similarly skilled, but younger, counterparts,” he said.
“This, of course, isn’t lawful. Discrimination laws apply to job applicants just as they do to employees. The issue is that this type of discrimination is incredibly difficult to prove. The older applicant wouldn’t have immediate access to the other applicants’ details, so they would usually never know that their age was a factor.
“However, if an applicant does suspect discrimination, they can submit questions to the employer to help determine this. Based on the research, it seems that the employer’s responses would often provide evidence in support of the applicant’s claim.
“Some have argued that discrimination laws are no longer necessary because employers simply don’t discriminate anymore. This research demonstrates that this is clearly not correct, and so employees and job applicants need protection against discrimination now as much as ever.”
Print
Email
