Age discrimination in employment
CPA Australia’s new study A Mature Solution has found continuing
discrimination against hiring older professionals such as accountants,
lawyers and engineers despite skills shortages.
The report included those who were forced to retire, those who had
chosen to retire and those who were thinking about retirement.
Employers believe that older workers are stuck in their ways, out of
touch with technology, laws and regulations – and difficult to retrain or
teach new skills.
They claimed they did not discriminate against older workers but
expressed concerns that the workers were just using the jobs as stepping stones to another job and that they would expect higher salaries than were on offer.
Workers who were interviewed said they had issues with voluntary work – being exploited or asked to work for nothing. While complaining about the difficulty in finding work, many lacked the skills for the jobs they were seeking.
The report concluded that with employers saying they needed to recruit
talent, and professionals wanting to find work, the groups needed help
to be brought together.
