Chris Autry has built, opened and managed corporate contact centers for nearly 30 years. The longest he was unemployed was six months in 1989. Until recently, that was the case.
Autry, 64, lost his job last year in a company downsizing and was unable to find another during the nine months he was looking. It is thought that ageism may play a role.
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He applied to about 500 jobs and received a 12% response rate, which led to dozens of interviews and follow-ups. He has conducted many interviews with CEOs or decision makers in the company, but he has not yet landed a job.
“It's all virtual these days. I've found that if the first interview or screening is over the phone, I'll always get to the next level. If it's by video, I won't get to the next level,” Autry said. “Maybe it's a bias.” “Unconscious if they see me as an older applicant.”
He said he never felt ageism was overt or anything he could prove. It was even more accurate.
He said that during one of the interviews, he was dressed appropriately from his point of view, as he was wearing a jacket and tie. The Vice President of Human Resources asked him if he always dressed formally.
“I get the impression that I probably look like an old school, stuffy, from a bygone era,” Autry said.
He said he never said anything about that comment and never filed a complaint about age discrimination, because it was always so accurate.
“Even in my mind, I can't prove that this was age discrimination. Maybe there was a better candidate.” “I try not to let things like this defeat me.”
AARP found that 64% of adults age 50 or older in the workforce believe that older workers face discrimination, and nine in 10 believe that age discrimination against older workers is common in the workplace. More than one in 10 said they had not received a promotion or opportunity for advancement because of their age.
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Another job seeker, Randy Gee, who declined to give his last name, said he was laid off from his job as a graphic designer at age 57 and has been unable to find full-time work since. He is now 62 and still looking for a permanent job, although he has had a variety of temporary and short-term assignments.
“I didn't expect it would take more than a few weeks to find a job,” he said. “But it kept going and going. I didn't see that coming.”
After about a year of looking for work, he said it occurred to him that age discrimination might play a role.
“What happened was never a specific thing. It was never that someone said 'something bad X'. It felt like it was just in the water,” he said.
AARP found that age discrimination against people 50 or older cost the economy $850 billion in 2018, from job losses or lost promotions and opportunities.
To make it easier to prove age discrimination, a bipartisan group in Congress in December reintroduced a proposal called the Older Workers from Discrimination Act. The measure was first introduced in 2009, and multiple versions failed to pass.
The new House proposal seeks to address the Supreme Court's 2009 decision in Gross v. FPL Financial Services, which weakened protections against age discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. This provision sets a higher bar for age discrimination than for other types of discrimination, such as sex, race or physical ability.
The Supreme Court's ruling required plaintiffs to prove that age was the primary reason behind an adverse employment claim, a much higher standard than the previous rule, which required plaintiffs to prove that age was a motivating factor.
“For more than a decade, the Supreme Court has undermined protections for older workers by imposing an unreasonable burden of proof on age discrimination claims,” Rep. Bobby Scott, a Democrat from Virginia, said in a press release.
The bill “would finally restore the legal rights of older workers by ensuring that the burdens of proof in age discrimination claims are treated in the same manner as other discrimination claims,” Scott said.
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Despite potential age discrimination, the number of older workers is increasing, and there are currently five generations in the workforce.
Nearly one in five Americans 65 or older will work for pay in 2023, nearly double the proportion of older adults who were working 35 years ago, according to the Pew Research Center.
This year, the United States reached “peak 65,” the phenomenon in which about 12,000 people a day reach the age of 65.
Looking ahead, projections from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that the role of older workers will continue to grow over the next decade. People aged 65 or older are expected to make up 8.6% of the workforce in 2032, up from 6.6% in 2022.
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“Older workers want what all workers want — flexibility, balance, fulfillment and satisfaction. At the end of the day, everyone wants the same thing,” said Carly Ruszkowski, AARP's vice president of financial flexibility programs.
Roszkowski said AARP has resources to help people in the workforce talk to a manager or human resources department about any potential age discrimination. For people looking for jobs, AARP offers tips for resumes that match the applicant's age, such as removing graduation dates and limiting experience to the most relevant and most recent 10 to 15 years.
The advocacy group is also working to help companies understand that a multigenerational workforce is better in terms of productivity, innovation and the bottom line, Ruszkowski said. AARP also urges companies to include age in their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
If job seekers face age discrimination, documentation is key, Rozkowski said.
“It's the hardest distinction to prove,” she said. “It is the biggest barrier to returning to or remaining in the workplace.”
