{"id":66920,"date":"2025-08-08T05:53:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T05:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/66920\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T05:53:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T05:53:07","slug":"job-hunting-seniors-face-ageism-barrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/66920\/","title":{"rendered":"Job-hunting seniors face ageism barrier"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are a senior and want to continue working, even part time, or you want to re-enter the workforce, then let\u2019s be honest, it\u2019s not going to be easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When planning to do so, it is important to understand why many bosses don\u2019t want to employ you. This article might help.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It seems incredible that Australia\u2019s employers are overlooking experienced workers at a time when their businesses and the national economy are experiencing skills shortages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

National Seniors Australia (NSA) has a long-time policy<\/a> of reforming the taxation and workplace systems to enable older people to continue working or return to work. More on that later.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just us calling for change. This latest news arises from research by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and Human HR Institute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It found almost a quarter (24%) of human resources (HR) professionals now classify workers aged 51\u201355 as \u201colder\u201d \u2013 up 10% on 2023 \u2013 and suggests that many employers are sidelining experienced professionals, at a time when we\u2019re told employers are crying out for workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The report, Older and Younger Workers: What Do Employers Think?<\/a>, provides a snapshot of how older and younger workers are perceived, supported, and included in Australian workplaces.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite more than half of respondents (55%) reporting hard-to-fill vacancies, just 56% said they are open to hiring workers aged 50\u201364 \u201cto a large extent\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This drops to 28% for those 65 and over, with 18% saying they won\u2019t hire this age group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the other end of the age spectrum, the findings were also bleak \u2013 just 41% of employers are open to recruiting jobseekers aged 15 to 24 \u201cto a large extent\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The AHRC makes the point that the findings come amid renewed national focus on productivity, with the Productivity Commission, the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, identifying it as one of Australia\u2019s most pressing economic challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur research found some workplaces are hesitant to employ workers over the age of 50, before they are even close to retirement age, or under 24 \u2013 including Gen Z\u2019s digital natives,\u201d the CEO of the Australian HR Institute, Sarah McCann-Bartlett, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Age Discrimination Commissioner, Robert Fitzgerald, said the findings highlighted the need for sustained action against ageism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOlder and younger workers can be a real advantage for businesses. Age-diverse teams bring different life experiences to the table and are better at solving problems,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEmployers need to support inclusive workplaces, where competency isn\u2019t assessed against age or career stage. Providing equal opportunity for people of all ages to remain engaged in meaningful work can enhance productivity, while also helping close skills gaps.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you are a senior and want to continue working, even part time, or you want to re-enter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[28,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-66920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-jobs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}