Age Discrimination in Hiring: An Experimental Study in Italy

Abstract

This paper examines age discrimination in hiring against elderly workers in Italy. By means of a role-game laboratory experiment, we estimated the effect of age and certain important mediating factors, such as job experience and training, on hiring decisions, by considering also social influence and stereotypes. Our findings indicate that age discrimination against older people does exist even when candidates have comparable characteristics. Results suggest that although the Italian population has one of the highest life expectancies worldwide, health stereotypes are the most important determinant of this effect. However, we found that experience and up-to-date training by elderly workers could counterbalance this negative effect.

The Prevalence of Ageism in the Chinese Workplace: Investigating the Impact of the "Retirement" Age at 35 Years Old on Job Seekers

“…Addressing issues related to aging populations, declining workforce, and increasing statutory retirement ages necessitates measures to prohibit age discrimination, allowing older employees to work on equal footing with their younger peers and, consequently, to resolve prevailing employment challenges [22,23].…”

Mutual Interaction of Gender and Age Bias in Hiring Decisions

“…An Italian study found that, older people are more likely to be punished, even when people have similar characteristics. [4] For gender discrimination, women continue to experience more subtle forms of discrimination, such as having their input in groups ignored and having their performances devalued. Studies by Correll and Benard (2007) show that female job applicants are discriminated against for having children, while other males with the same situation are rewarded for it.…”