Job market booming for the boomers
Job market shows promise for older workers reckons Employers Forum on Age boss There’s never been a better time to be over fifty and out of work, reckons Sam Mercer, director of the Employers Forum on Age (EFA). Speaking as the EFA itself released figures which show 16.6m of us have witnessed ageist practices at work, and on the eve of the Government launching its much trailed age-related anti discrimination laws, this is a statement that needs some qualification. Mercer doesn’t claim that the jobs market for older people is anything but tough, but she maintains that a combination of demographics –there are simply less youngsters to fill posts- and the life and career experiences of an emerging generation of ‘third agers’ is creating a more positive environment.
"I’ve often heard it quoted that the ‘baby boomers’ re-defined each age they passed through. That’s true as they enter old age. They’re nothing like the (older) people of fifty years ago," says Mercer. She suggests that this is the first generation who’s work experiences have been forged by an ever changing labour market, and although many people are still finding themselves pushed unwillingly onto the job market for the first time in twenty or thirty years, others have grown used to shifting jobs, re-training and moving into fresh areas of employment. However, many see the future of work after an often cherished career as being low wage cannon fodder for poorly paid, insecure, low skilled jobs. "I’m not going to deny the reality for a lot of people," says Mercer. "There’s a perception that the only jobs available for older workers are in retail, perhaps because they’re very visible there, but there are job opportunities for older workers everywhere." She concedes that "it isn’t always possible to get the same kind of job for the same salary," particularly for those in their late fifties or older, but insists this does not debar them from working at all.
For those faced with applying for such jobs in their fifties and sixties, Mercer thinks there should be little difference in approach to those in their twenties and thirties.
"It’s about getting advice and being prepared to ask," she says. "Talking to professionals about presentation, interview techniques, structuring CVs."
She thinks some older job applicants almost apologise for their age or length of service. "The temptation is to say, ‘sorry I’ve been doing this for twenty years,’ but really a person should be making the most of that experience and looking at how it will be relevant to the job." Mercer concedes that many employers think that older workers applying for jobs will expect higher wages and feel a loss of status. "We need to change this. Job applicants know what the salaries will be, and they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t interested. If you’re starting from the bottom at 40, 50 or even 60, you’re not scraping the barrel."
She maintains that such jobs often give people access to new skills and career paths. "During their working lives people may look at several types of career, or they may want to down shift. This isn’t a sign of desperation." Sam Mercer readily admits that now thirty year old rules on sexism and racism at work haven’t eradicated these problems from many people’s lives, but they have been positive, and she sees this October’s discrimination laws as providing a marker to improve things for older people.
"We have the analogy that racism and sexism are like drink driving, absolutely socially unacceptable, but ageism is like speeding. Everybody does it." She hopes that a mix of necessity, experience and the law will change this, and make working –or trying to work- in later life a less painful experience. Written by Martin Gurdon
This article was created: 26 September 2006.
This article was last edited: 12 July 2007.
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