Population Aging, Age Discrimination, and Age Discrimination Protections at the 50th Anniversary of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act

Abstract

This paper discusses population aging, increased participation of seniors in the labor force in the United States (and reasons for this), and how these trends are making the struggles of older workers in the labor market increasingly relevant. Evidence examining whether age discrimination is a barrier for seniors as they try to increase their work lives through the common practice of "bridge" jobs is also presented. After discussing the evidence that measures age discrimination, economics and legal research that seeks to determine to what extent the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and state-level age discrimination laws prevent age discrimination is discussed. In summary, current evidence indicates that age discrimination exists, but more so for older women. While evidence suggests that age discrimination laws may help, they cannot resolve all the challenges imposed by population aging, especially for older women.

Experimental Research on Labor Market Discrimination

“…Here, though, I restrict the discussion to a bargaining experiment that more explicitly tries to capture features of labor markets. 28 Dittrich, Knabe, and Leipold (2014) study multistage, alternative-offer bargaining, which they believe is more likely to generalize to labor market outcomes than simple bargaining experiments, and they explore differences depending on whether males and females are playing the role of employees or employers. Their experiment is framed as a firm bargaining with a worker.…”

“…An initial offer is made, alternatively by the employer or the employee, and then there are rounds of counteroffers. After the third round, if there is no agreement reached there 28 There are also field experiments on bargaining, but perhaps not surprisingly, given the needs of this research, these experiments focus on consumer transactions. Examples include sex differences in bargaining over taxi fares in Peru (Castillo et al 2013), race, age, and sex differences in bargaining over sports cards (List 2004), and sex and race differences in bargaining over car prices (Ayres and Siegelman 1995).…”

Middle ageism: when social climate and perceived employability relate to attitudes and intent to hire middle-aged employees

“…Preventing the development of stereotypes may be of considerable importance, especially when discriminating job applicants or employees constitutes a violation of the Employment Law (Equal Opportunities), and it may penalize organizations and tarnish their image. Nevertheless, while evidence suggests that age discrimination laws may help, they cannot resolve all the challenges imposed by population aging (Button, 2020).…”

Differential Treatment of Older Workers Due to COVID‐19 Accommodations: Potential Issues of Ageism and Age Discrimination

“…Política laboral COVID-19, discriminación por edad, discriminación por edad, Ley de discriminación por edad en el empleo, trabajador desalentado Introduction T he recent pandemic has had a significant impact on older workers and their quality of life in many ways (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020;Kanfer, Lyndgaard, & Tatel, 2020). Many older workers have encountered age discrimination issues during the pandemic despite the ADEA legislation's coverage (Button, 2020). There is a valid concern that COVID-19 policies at the state and local levels discriminate against vulnerable worker groups in the form of racism and other biases (Hooper, Nápoles, & Pérez-Stable, 2020).…”