Older Americans struggling to overcome age
discrimination while looking for work face a new enemy: their computers.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan recently
opened a probe into allegations that ageism is built right into the online
software tools that millions of Americans use to job hunt.
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Separate research published recently by Federal
Reserve Bank found that in a widespread test using fabricated resumes,
fictional older workers were 30 percent less likely to be contacted after
applying for jobs. Fictional older women had it even worse, being 47 percent
less likely to get a "callback."
. People are living longer, their are
inadequate, are almost certainly going to require it. The San Francisco
Fed says that the share of the older-65 working population is projected to rise
sharply — from about 19 percent now to 29 percent in the year 2060.
Online job hunting tools should be making things easier for older
employment seekers, and it can. Indeed.com, which claims to list 16 million
jobs worldwide, currently lists 158,000 openings under its "Part Time
Jobs, Senior Citizen Jobs" category. Monster.com,
which claims 5 million
listings, has a special home page for "Careers at 50+."
In other ways, however, online job sites can
cut older workers out built right into their software, according to Madigan. Job seekers who try to
build a profile or resume can find that it's impossible to complete some forms
because drop-down menus needed to complete tasks don't go back far enough to
let older applicants fill them out. For example,
one site's menu options for
"years attended college" stops abruptly at 1956. That could prevent
someone in their late 70s from filling out the form.
Madigan's office said it found one example
that only accommodated those who had attended school after 1980, "barring
anyone who is older than 52." Other sites used dates ranging from 1950 to
1970 as cutoffs, her office said.
"Today's workforce includes many people
working in their 70s and 80s," Madigan said. "Barring older people
from commonly used job search sites because of their age is discriminatory and
negatively impacts our economy."
The Illinois' Civil Rights Bureau has opened a
probe into potential violations of the Illinois Human Rights Act and the
federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Madigan's office has sent inquiry
letters to six top jobs sites: Beyond.com, CareerBuilder, Indeed Inc., Ladders
Inc., Monster Worldwide Inc. and Vault.
CareerBuilder called the issue a mistake.
"CareerBuilder is committed to helping
workers of all ages find job opportunities, and is fixing this unfortunate
oversight," spokesman Michael Erwin said in an email.
Beyond.com said it hadn't heard from Madigan's
office, and added that it works to prevent age discrimination on the site.
"Discrimination has no part in the hiring
process and that's why we take such care to help job seekers and hiring
managers carefully consider all information they put forth during the job
search process to avoid any conscious or unconscious bias," the company
said in a statement.
Indeed.com also said it had not heard from the
attorney general's office, and denied its site had an issue.
"On Indeed, anyone can upload a resume
with any dates, and users can create a resume with drop down dates that go back
to 1900," spokesman Alex Ortolani said.
Monster, and Vault did not immediately respond
to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Ladders said the company has not
received a letter so far from Madigan. "Our site does not restrict the
dates on resumes that people submit to us. In fact, to combat age
discrimination we do not ask for a year of graduation from college," in an
email on March 13.
"Barring older people from commonly
used job search sites because of their age is discriminatory and negatively
impacts our economy"-
Experts say it's best to leave age off your
resume. Online resume-building tools that force applicants to enter years for
degree programs or work experience have a way of forcing the issue, however.
And there's fresh evidence why such revelations are a bad idea.
In the San Francisco Fed's experiment to see
if it could find statistical evidence of age discrimination, researchers
created fictitious resumes for young (ages 29–31), middle age (49–51), and
older (64–66) job applicants. Then those resumes were submitted to 13,000
positions in 12 cities across 11 states, totaling more than 40,000 applicants.
Age was not listed, but was clearly implied by
the inclusion of high school graduation years.
Across several categories of jobs — sales,
administrators, even janitors — there was evidence of age bias, the researchers
found. For example: Among men seeking sales jobs,
callbacks fell to 14.70 percent from 20.89
percent — a drop of about one-third — as applicants age rose from middle age to
older.
The study unearthed an even stronger
suggesting that group faces a double-whammy of age and gender discrimination
when trying to remain in the workforce. Older female applicants for
administrative jobs had a 47 percent lower callback rate than young female
applicants. In sales jobs, older women were 36 percent less likely to get a
call.
The study notes that any
"supply-side" reforms designed to nudge Americans to work longer —
namely won't work if older workers are systematically shut out of job
openings.
"Current policies to combat age
discrimination, which rely in large part on private litigation for enforcement,
may be ineffective at reducing or eliminating age discrimination in
hiring," the report concludes.
Source: www.cnbc.com/2017/03/10/online
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