As life expectancy continues to rise, we need more jobs for older workers. Developments in the nature of work should encourage staying in it: that is, physical endurance plays a lesser role, human resource management aspires to utilize diversified qualifications and skills, developments in physical health remove barriers at critical ages between 55 and 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the past, presbyopia glasses extended the activation of millions of people in the workplace. Today, although newcomers to these ages are not “digitally known” they are more educated, while they were the ones who introduced the new technologies in production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These factors contribute to the absence of a simplistic correlation between per capita productivity and age: older ones are no less productive. So what’s wrong, and there are no jobs for these people? In the aftermath of the pandemic and despite the general shortage of workers, new jobs for older people are fewer than lost. The answer is not in lagging physical productivity, but in labor costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Older employees cost the employer more because they are paid more both per hour and in terms of their productivity. This may be due to “career salaries”, which start low and escalate. This rewards the long tenure, but creates a situation where the employer has an interest in terminating the partnership at an older age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the public sector, remuneration is determined by various practices such as three years, four years or even five years, establishing a direct relationship with tenure and age, while the hierarchical structure opposes complementarity. A common place in both the private and public sectors is the protection of longer-term employees: the age escalation of wages is framed by corresponding protection against dismissal. As a result, employers are looking for opportunities to break free from the costly presence of older employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This explains the “voluntary exits” but also the encouragement of employees to apply for retirement as soon as they can or to bet on bypasses, such as invalidity pensions (in the Netherlands) or long-term unemployment (Germany). It also explains tactics of “targeting” employees in the workplace in order to leave voluntarily. Even in good faith, protection for those who work is a barrier for those trying to find work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem for most employees is not that they can continue to work. It is to find a new job if (and for whatever reason) they lose the one they had. Thus, companies that reopen after the pandemic prefer the other younger ones. The problem for workers over the age of 50 is to change jobs or find new ones if they find themselves without a job. The labor market for them is non-existent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Age-phobia is the most persistent and corrosive form of prejudice. It is not hidden, but it sounded like an opening to the new generation. The mechanism of its consolidation is the same as sexism and homophobia. The existence of prejudice justifies actions that end up confirming its correctness. The problem with age-phobia is that stereotypes are adopted and transmitted by those who exist. The work of workers over the age of 50 is not a necessary evil, but an insurmountable need. In order to be exploited, they must want it themselves, but both the employers and the production must want it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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