In the 1960’s, age discrimination became a major issue in the American workplace since jobs were made unavailable to older American citizens. Older citizens were costly to hire because of previous job experience and employers refused to hire them. Employers ensured their intentions of hiring young employees by various techniques such as labeling ages for their jobs. Job labeling became a way where employers could eliminate the risk of hiring an older person. “Ads printed in newspapers dictated the ages of prospective employees the company was willing to hire” (Blank 1). Companies were unwilling to hire older people because they were more experienced workers and many required benefits. Employers felt that “Replacing older workers with younger workers as accost-savings technique-- circumventing pension payouts and decreasing wages” (Byron 315). Older Americans had very little way of applying for jobs since employers were legally allowed to display favoritism and sport age discrimination in the workplace. The high competition of younger and more-able workers made finding near impossible for older American workers.
Age discrimination in America begins with employers analyzing the attractiveness of a prospect employee solely by their age. The age of a worker reveals how strong a person is and what type of salary and/or benefits they require for the job. According to Gilbert Lee’s theory he believes that “Age discrimination in the workplace should be relatively high in the 20’s, drop in the 30’s, and rise steadily thereafter” (256). New workers searching for their first job are exposed to job discrimination because employers do not want to risk hiring a brand new worker who has not yet earned a reputation. Young people newly siphoned into the workplace cannot be trusted by employers because little is known about their background. At the peak age of thirty, workers have obtained work experience, are strong and alert, and do not require a hefty salary. Employers show favoritism to the 30 year old work candidates and will hire them over the twenty-two year old. However, discrimination peaks for senior citizens because they require more money and benefits.
Older Americans are exposed to the highest level of job discrimination despite their advantageous offerings to an employer. “ Older workers often exhibit higher job commitments, less turn over and lower rates of absenteeism than do young workers” (Byron 315). Older Americans are dedicated workers and offer exemplary work ethic compared to younger people who tend to be negligent. Older workers frequently face unemployment and are verbally discriminated because they are no longer youthful or in their prime. Older Americans are the workers who deserve the jobs they get denied from because of job discrimination. Their credentials and high experience make them immaculate in comparison to the younger job competitor, but the lack of respect for old Americans allows the young and less- experienced to persevere. “Mangers are predisposed to favor young employees and draw from stereotypical portrayals of older Americans” (Byron 315). The term “Over the Hill” and “Ancient” are the many mocking phrases that older individuals face in the American work place. Many employers want their workers to be charismatic and attractive so that their company gains admiration from consumers. Attractive young employees communicate strength to outsiders, which makes a company look strong and fresh. Young employees incorporate new blood to a company. The young employees have many years of working left in them, which is why hiring workers young becomes a financial benefit.
As older Americans continued to face more discrimination in the work place, Lyndon Johnson signed the Age Discrimination Employment Act of 1967 in order to dissipate the discrimination of older people from employment. The act protects against any type of age discrimination at the age of forty and above, the peak ages that discrimination starts. The act encourages that respect be returned to the older generations of Americans and the shrewd name- calling stopped. “The Age Discrimination Act in Employment Act of 1967 prohibits discrimination in employment based on age with respect to older individuals” (Kaye 774). The act has protected hundreds of Americans from the unlawful attacks of job discrimination based upon age. The act has helped instill fairness to older Americans searching for a job and considers it unlawful for an employer to stereotype or degrade workers because of age.
Although the Age Discrimination Act of 1967 can be seen as successful, there are many existing forms of job discrimination found in America today that pertain to solely age. An ageism survey reveals that “84% of working Americans more than 60 years old report one or more incidents of ageism including insulting jokes, disrespect, or assumptions pertaining to frailty” ( Byron 314). Disrespect of these older individuals is still prevalent in America and they are even mocked today. Many of these people who have become victims of age discrimination can file reports and have their cases reviewed with the chances of a settlement. Many of these cases filed have become legitimate age discrimination cases and the cases have successfully ended with monetary gain awarded to the victim. “In Fiscal year 2008, EEOC received 24, 582 charges of age discrimination and EEOC resolved 21, 415 cases and recovered 88.2 million dollars in benefits for aggrieved individuals” (Age Discrimination). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is a government agency that protects people from discrimination in the work place. The agency has helped resolve the cases of hundreds of victims that have suffered through various types of job discrimination in the United States. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provides help to people who feel that they were not hired because of their age, religion, race, or disability. The agency protects people of several discrimination factors and helps them collect money if they were degraded or discriminated against.
A recent case of job discrimination based upon age relates to Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed, a book about a writer’s struggle to take on the challenge of working low-paying jobs as a single woman. Barbara Ehrenreich was 57 years old when she started the project of Nickel and Dimed. Her age is the target of when age discrimination in the work place peaks since she is several years over the age of 40. Mrs. Enhrenreich’s age is one where many Americans should respect as her for being an elder. However, people treat Ehrenreich with little respect and force her down on her hands and needs despite her physical age and sore back. “It is the primal posture of submission” (Ehrenreich 84). Her job as a maid was a degrading experience and she gained very little respect despite of her age.
Age was not an important factor to an employer who hired and older woman like Ehrenreich because the employer could easily find another desperate worker to replace the elderly woman. Ehrenreich was forced to hide her pain and take medications so she could prove herself as an able worker. If she slowed up and complained she would have been easily fired and replaced. As an older citizen, Ehrenreich experienced that people do not respect people by their age but by the level of job they possess. “They think we are stupid. We are nothing to these people… we’re just maids” (Ehrenreich 100). Ehrenreich struggles to gain respect by the general public because of her job she pursues. She gains little respect because she is an elder. In fact, many people view it as degrading that an older person has to perform work from such a low status job. Ehrenreich faced several struggles throughout the many jobs she worked for. Age is a major factor when calculating job competition. Many young single women are the majority of workers for low wage jobs that Ehrenreich was competing for. Many of these women have children or become pregnant and have to work a job. Some of these women are young and cannot get a high paying job because of age discrimination. It is struggles like these in Nickel and Dimed that many workers face every day in their lives.
Age discrimination in the workplace has been an ongoing issue throughout America’s history. In the 1960’s older people were almost removed from the workplace because of the legality of age discrimination. After the Age Discrimination of Age in Employment Act of 1967, the cases of age discrimination narrowed throughout time. However, in today’s age it still goes on in society today where many workers face discrimination and adverse remarks made from bosses and other co-workers. “Age has been, and continues to be an important cultural dimension of status in our society” (Byron 313). Fortunately, agencies such as the EEOC protect and help find liberty to those who have been treated unequally. These are advantages that did not exist during the past where cases of job discrimination went roaring through the streets. Age discrimination in the work place will continue to become an issue in America as long as age continues to be a primary role at establishing status to the American people.
Through my research I believe that discrimination by age is grotesquely wrong after researching several reliable sources in scholarly articles and government web sites. After my research I know that age discrimination is prevalent in America today! I strongly believe that the older workers are the more reliable and dependable workers and feel that it is wrong not to hire a person solely because of age. I feel that many reliable older workers are denied jobs despite that they are the most capable for performing that job. Older people are the targeted age group for verbal insults and put downs. I have found research that proves that the majority of senior citizens in the United States have recently been negatively harassed or degraded because of their age or weakness. Many Americans do not treat their Elders with respect and many times insult them in inappropriate ways. It is my opinion that America should show higher respect to senior citizens and show a higher level of tolerance towards them. My research has informed me that acts and agencies that help resolve cases of age discrimination and in many cases return justice to those who have been aggrieved from any type of age discrimination. Although many cases of age discrimination persist, I believe that justice will be served to them.
I believe the sources that I chose for my paper were reliable and dependable because the majority of them came from famous journals or scholarly articles. I purposely chose sources from databases because I know that they were monitored and placed on the database because of their overall quality. Two of my articles came from journals that specialized in social issues or age discrimination issues. These sources were highly dependable and I strongly believe that they incorporated Ethos in my paper. I used a government web site for one of my sources because I know that the writer of the web page was not someone of the general public and had experience of what he was talking about. One article that came from the general public seemed to prove very interesting points, although I do not know how reliable his research is. I chose one source from the general public in order to see an outside view of age discrimination of people from various educational backgrounds. I incorporated Ehrenreich’s quotes from her novel Nickel and Dimed because it helped reinforce my outside research with a book that we read during class. I enjoyed connecting the two together because it helped reinforce my previously stated ideas in my research paper. The sources helped me enhance my knowledge and further my understanding about the current and past incidences of age discrimination in the workplace. It is my opinion that blending various sources in a research paper makes the paper strong and leaves the researcher filled with knowledge of various perspectives.
Works Cited
“Age Discrimination.” The US Equal Opportunity Commission. N.p., 15 July 2009. Web. 21 Oct. 2009.
Blank, Chris. “What Is Age Discrimination in the Workplace?” EHow. N.p., 2009. Web. 23 Oct. 2009.
Byron, Reginald, et al. “Age Discrimination, Social Closure and Employment.” Social Forces 86.1 (2007): 313-34. Project MUSE. Web. 25 Oct. 2009.
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed. New York: Holt, 2008. Print.
Kaye, David. “Statistical Evidence of Discrimination.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 77.380 (1982): 773-83. JSTOR. Web. 21 Oct. 2009.
Lee, Gilbert C, Eliza K Pavalko, and J Scott Long. “Age, Cohort and Perceived Age Discrimination: Using the Life Course to Assess Self-reported Age Discrimination.” Social Forces 86.1 (2007): 265-90. Project MUSE. Web. 21 Oct. 2009.
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