Suchergebnisse

Current research into organizational age discrimination has placed a focus on the consequences of ageism and economic pressures of an ageing workforce, rather than endeavouring to understand the social processes that create and reproduce ageist ideologies within an organizational context. This article departs from mainstream approaches within age and employment studies in order to explore older worker identity as a discursive phenomenon. Analysis shows how the social construction of the `older worker' may in itself serve to marginalize and contribute towards age inequalities through three discursive strategies: contextualizing the problem, essentializing older worker characteristics and ventriloquizing the older worker. The conclusions seek to situate these findings within larger political and practitioner debates concerning the older worker agenda and how distancing the older worker from chronological or biological determinism may serve to further our understanding of organizational age inequality as a social process.

Between 1980 and 2000, the number of people now 55 and older who survive to become 75 and older will increase by over 52%. Also, older people are living longer and are retaining high levels of mental and physical capacity longer. Consequently, prevailing notions about retirement and retirement age are rapidly shifting. Already mandatory retirement age has been delayed from 65 to 70 in most areas of employment. This change and continued high rates of inflation have begun increasing the interest of more older people in seeking to remain qualified to stay in their present or related jobs, or, if retired, to seek to prepare for further careers. Employment counselors, and personnel and guidance professionals generally, who have tended to focus their attention on young people preparing for their first careers face a major challenge in the years ahead in preparing themselves to meet the major and novel demands placed on them by people 55 and older who increasingly will come to them for help.

Abstract.  In this paper we take advantage of differences in the legal status of mandatory retirement in Canada across jurisdictions and over time to assess its impact on the share of older people working. The results suggest that making mandatory retirement illegal would have little effect on the size of the older workforce, and therefore such a policy alone would do little to alleviate problems associated with an aging population and the consequent decline in the share of the population employed. JEL Classification: J26, J88