Oldness: The Numbers Say it All
The statistics make it very clear why The FiftyUp Club is supporting The Power of Oldness campaign just released by Age Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Ryan (pictured).
Just digging around the numbers makes for depressing reading.
A staggering 38% of males were refused work last year because they were considered too old by employers. The same applied to more than 25% of women.
In the case of both sexes, some 12% lacked the necessary schooling, training, skills or experience.
We at The FiftyUp Club have long advocated a change in thinking when it comes to training and education. It should no longer be confined to the 5-25 year old age bracket – but rather the 5-55 year old age bracket.
It’s not all bad news, of course.
Other figures released by Ryan show some improvement over the past 10 years or so when it comes to Labour Force participation.
Men between 55 and 59 have actually picked up from the low 70s to 80%.
Women 55 to 59 have picked up from around 50 to 65%.
Interestingly, women between 65 and 69 are doing better over the same period.
They’ve gone from around 20% to just over 40%.
Men in the same age bracket are also improving, from about 20% ten years ago to just over 30%.
So it’s not all doom and gloom, but there’s plenty of room left for improvement.
As Commissioner Ryan has said: “More than half of the age discrimination complaints we receive at the Human Rights Commission are related to employment.”
We hear the same from many of our members, so we’re all for The Power of Oldness.
