If you still have the ability to perform good work for a business in your older years, your age should not be a barrier to employment. Unfortunately, age discrimination is not only a current issue for some older workers, but there are some reasons to believe that more people may encounter this form of discrimination in the near future.
An article run in American Banker runs through some problems the banking industry is currently experiencing with age discrimination. Many of these issues may also come up in other sectors of the economy.
Increases in older workers
For a number of reasons, some older workers decide not to leave the workforce. Some people enjoy their occupation and do not feel like retiring. Others may feel nervous about depleting their retirement funds and want to keep working to delay retirement and to build up more money for eventual retirement. The increased presence of older people in the workforce means employers will have more opportunities to discriminate against them.
Poor economic times
The economy can play a part in whether an older worker has problems staying employed. If the economy goes through a downturn, businesses may look for ways to cut costs, which can include terminating employees they deem too costly to keep on. Businesses may fire long serving employees with large salaries in favor of younger employees who will start out at a lower salary level.
Increasing digital strategies
The American Banker article points out that the banking industry is currently focusing on digital services and strategies. As a result, banks are looking for younger people to serve in executive positions, believing that older workers may not have enough experience in digital strategy. This focus on digital strategy may also crop up in other industries.
This shift in strategy can create problems for older workers by denying them promotions that they would have otherwise received. A company that changes its focus in what it wants in its executives might cause the company to break existing promises to older workers to promote them. This may result in more age discrimination claims.
