Age not helping those over 50 find new employment

If you’re over 50 and currently unemployed, odds are finding a job may not be so easy these days.

According to CNN it’s a challenge for unemployed workers over 50 to get rehired.

Aside from being unemployed, the elderly face longer unemployment intervals (11 months) compared to those aged 25 to 36 (eight months).

Work ethic doesn’t seem to be the reason for this glaring discrepancy, as a a recent survey by the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University found that nearly two-thirds of unemployed workers age 55 and older say they have been actively searching for a job for more than one year.

In the end, age discrimination is likely the key factor.

“It’s very difficult to prove hiring discrimination, because unless somebody says, ‘you’re too old for this job,’ you don’t know why you weren’t hired,” said Michael Harper, a law professor at Boston University. Plus, employers may have rational qualifications that are inadvertently weeding out older candidates.

“Recent education and technological skills are two areas where older workers are more likely to come up short compared to the younger competition.”