The Older American Worker - Age Discrimination in Employment

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF LABOR TO THE CONGRESS
UNDER SECTION 715 OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964

JUNE 1965

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

Thủ đô WASHINGTON, D.C., June 30, 1965 .

Hon. John W. McCormack,
Speaker of the House of Representatives

Hon. Hubert H. Humphrey,
The President of the Senate

Sirs :
I have the honor phệ transmit phệ the Congress herewith the ” study of the factors which might tend Khủng result in dage calculator in years
crimination in employment because of age và of the consequences of such discrimination, ” with my recommendations on this subject, as required Khủng be submitted by June 30, 1965, under Section 715 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ( Public Law 88-352 ) .
This báo cáo is based upon special studies conducted in response lớn this directive of the Congress và upon extensive research done earlier, including the work of the President’s Council on Aging. The special studies conducted for this báo cáo are contained in a separate volume of research materials .
The báo cáo presents recommendations for dealing with arbitrary discrimination in employment because of age và with the basic factors which impede the reemployment of displaced workers as they grow older. It also discusses measures which should be considered for the fuller use of the talents & thời gian of older persons in private enterprise và in community service .
It is my sincere hope that the báo cáo will provide the impetus for effective measures in this most deserving & much neglected cause .

Sincerely,

W. WILLARD WIRTZ,
Secretary of Labor

CONTENTS

I. Introduction
II. Findings
Factors Which Might Tend béo Result in Discrimination in Employment Because of Age
A. Discrimination Arising from Dislike or Intolerance
B. Arbitrary Discrimination : Specific Age Limits
C. The Necessary Recognition of Forces of Circumstances
D. Institutional Arrangements that Indirectly Restrict the Employment of Older Workers
The Consequences of Such Discrimination on the Economy và Individuals Affected
A. The Consequences phệ the Economy
B. The Consequences Khủng the Individual
III. Conclusions & Recommendations
kích hoạt Khủng Eliminate Arbitrary Age Discrimination in Employment
kích hoạt béo Adjust Institutional Arrangements Which Work phệ the Disadvantage of Older Workers
kích hoạt bự Increase the Availability of Work for Older Workers
kích hoạt phệ Enlarge Educational Concepts & Institutions lớn Meet the Needs & Opportunities of Older Age
Research Materials – Under Separate Cover

I. Introduction

The poet Browning could write of growing old, và say of it : ” The best is yet bự be / The last of life, for which the first was made. ”
A century late, reality has still not caught up with that poetry. Although scientists và doctors have extended life with almost incredible ingenuity, và have eased some of the physical pains of old age, there has been no comparable invention regarding the uses of these long years of vigorous active life that now commence at the point where, until almost this generation, life began rapidly bự ebb. Yet, this is in truth a miracle, a hot nhất age of man ; và it is hardly lớn be wondered that it has brought with it hot nhất problems as yet unsolved, indeed as yet hardly examined .
The Social Security Act of 1935 established an historic precedent ; but security is no more than a foundation for satisfaction, và not itself enough. Subsequent legislation–various housing acts, parts of the antipoverty program, provisions béo cover some of the costs of illness that comes with age–has recognized the right Khủng grow older in decency. Yet decency, too, is meager reward .
Meeting the problems associated with advancing years remains, accordingly, a pressing piece of unfinished business for those who consider it not heresy, but the fullest reverence, phệ include the perfectibility of life within the human competence .
There is, in this connection, no harsher verdict in most men’s lives than someone else’s judgment that they are no longer worth their keep. It is then, when the answer at the hiring gate is ” You’re too old, ” that a man turns away, in another poet’s phrase, finding ” nothing mập look backward Khủng with pride, nothing phệ look forward Khủng with hope. ” If that verdict is fair on the facts, it can only be viewed as part of life’s bruising mystery. But if that verdict is unfair, or unnecessary, it is part of man’s inhumanity mập man that can be & must be stopped .
All of this is the context of the Congress ‘ provision, in Section 715 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that –

The Secretary of Labor shall make a đầy đủ & complete study of the factors which might tend bự result in discrimination in employment because of age và of the consequences of such discrimination on the economy & individuals affected. The Secretary of Labor shall make a báo cáo mập the Congress not later than June 30, 1965, containing the results of such study & shall include in such báo cáo such recommendations for legislation phệ prevent arbitrary discrimination in employment because of age as he determines advisable .

This báo cáo is presented in response phệ this requirement .
The Congressional directive was carefully & precisely worded, avoiding prejudgment of the influence of discrimination on the employment of older workers, recognizing subtly that not all discrimination in this area is ” arbitrary, ” asking a broad consideration of all ” factors which might tend lớn result in discrimination ” in employment because of age, & requesting a báo cáo on the consequences of these factors both on the economy & on the individuals affected. Thes e guides have shaped this báo cáo .
The development of responsible & effective public policy regarding discrimination based on age requires as steadfast & unfearing confrontation of reality as did the development of a national policy opposed béo discrimination based on race, màu sắc, religion, sex, or national origin. But there is an essential difference .
The Nation has faced the fact–rejecting inherited prejudice or contrary conviction–that people’s ability & usefulness is unrelated mập the facts of their race, or màu sắc, or religion, or sex, or the geography of their birth. Having accepted this truth, the easy thing phệ bởi vì would be simply mập extend the conclusions derived from it béo the problem of discrimination in employment based on aging, & be done with the matter. This would be easy–and wrong .
The gist of the matter is that ” discrimination ” means something very different, so sánh far as employment practices involving age are concerned, from what is means in connection with discrimination involving-for example-race. It means in connection with the age question, furthermore, several different things .
Employment discrimination because of race is identified, in general understanding of it, with non-employment resulting from feelings about people entirely unrelated bự their ability phệ bởi the job. There is no significant discrimination of this kind so sánh far as older workers are concerned .
The most closely related kind of discrimination in the non-employment of older workers involves their rejection because of assumptions about the effect of age on their ability béo vì a job when there is in fact no basis for these assumptions. It is this which Congress refers béo, in Section 715 of the Civil Rights Act, as ” arbitrary discrimination. ”
A third type of discrimination-which should perhaps be called something else entirely-involves decisions not phệ employ a person for a particular job because of his age when there is in fact a relationship between his age & his ability phệ perform the job. The only reason for marking out this third area is that it clearly does exist so sánh far as the age question, but does not exist so sánh far as, for example, racial or religious discrimination are concerned .
There is finally, so sánh far as age is concerned, that kind of ” discrimination ” which results when an employer turns an older man or woman away, not because of concern about the individual’s ability phệ perform the work, but because of programs & practices actually designed phệ protect the employment of older workers while they remain in the work force, & phệ provide tư vấn when they leave it or are ill. Seniority & promotion-from within systems, & pension & insurance programs, are a mark of civilization. They vastly enhance the dignity, the security, the chất lượng of the later years of life in the United States. At the same phút giây, ironically, they sometimes have tended mập push still further lao dốc the age at which employers begin asking whether or not a prospective employee is too old lớn be taken on .
With these distinctions between various kinds of ” discrimination ” in mind, it is important, next, lớn recognize that there are two sets of value judgments lớn be made regarding any particular kind of discrimination based on age .
The most obvious of these judgments must be made in terms of the justification for particular employment practices in relationship lớn the efficient operation of a particular enterprise và of the economic system as a whole. This includes the value Khủng the system of making maximum use of the Nation’s đầy đủ manpower potential, of each individual’s đầy đủ capacity .
What is less obvious, indeed still unclear, is the extent lớn which tài khoản is properly taken of the value mập the individual of opportunity which the most ” efficient ” operation of the system as a whole might not provide. The prevailing assumption is that people are created for jobs, not jobs for people. The difference between a great & a lesser society–particularly one which prides itself on being individual-oriented rather than system-oriented–includes its readiness béo reviews this traditional assumption. The point is clearest in the case of an older person whose economic value becomes marginal in traditional market place terms, but for whom employment is the difference between life’s having meaning và no meaning. This is not just a matter of ” human ” concern for the individual. There may well be involved a choice for the rest of us between paying, as customers, a few cents an hour of that individual’s wages ( & getting the value of his productive potential ) or, in the alternative, paying, as taxpayers, the đầy đủ amount of his ” welfare ” upkeep ( & getting nothing in return ) .
It is true, on the one hand, that the absolute number of older persons–and therefore the number of persons who may be the victims of age discrimination in employment–is growing rapidly .

There are today 22 million men and women between the ages of 45 and 55, almost 17 million between the ages of 55 and 65, and 18 million 65 and over.

These numbers are all significantly greater, both in terms and as a proportion of the entire adult population, than was true ten years ago, or twenty, or fifty.

By 1975, there will be almost 24 million men and women between 45 and 55, about 20 million between 55 and 65, and about 21 million 65 and over.

Because young persons go lớn work later than they used mập, & more và more older women are going back Khủng work, the number of workers age 45 và end continues lớn grow ; và older workers will still make up more than a third of the work force in the years ahead .
So, the problem area is increasing significantly .
At the same thời gian, however, the median age of the population in the United States is going lao dốc .

Half of us are today under 29.

By 1975, half of us will be under 26.

What this means is that a Nation which already worships the whole idea of youth must approach any problem involving older people with conscious realization of the special obligation a majority assumes with respect mập ” minority nhóm ” interest. This is, bự be sure, one minority nhóm in which we all seek, sometimes desperately, eventual membership. Discrimination against older workers remains, nevertheless, a problem which must be met by a majority who are not themselves adversely affected by it và may even be its temporary beneficiaries .
The ” discrimination ” older workers have most mập fear, however, is not from any employer malice, or unthinking majority, but from the ruthless play of wholly impersonal forces–most of them part of what is properly, if sometimes too casually, called ” progress. ”
Over a sixth of the railroad engineers in the United States are 65 or older. But airline transport pilots must retire at 60. Astronauts are not hired after 35 .
The same advancing science that is extending people’s productive lives is contributing Khủng putting lower age limits on employment .
This results partly, at least for the present, from the increase in educational requirements for many jobs, và from the fact that older workers today have less formal education, on the whole, than younger workers. Among male workers 45 bự 54, nearly one-third of those who are White, & almost two-thirds of the nonwhite nhóm, have not gone beyond the eighth grade. Among male workers 55 Khủng 64, nearly half of the Trắng nhóm và more than three-quarters of the nonwhite nhóm have not gone beyond the eighth grade. This is in sharp contrast bự the education of young persons now entering the work force .
Any formal employment standard which requires, for example, a high school diploma will obviously work against the employment of many older workers–unfairly if, despite his limited schooling, an older worker’s years of experience have given him the relevant equivalent of a high school education .
In 1964, about 31/2 million workers 45 years old or older were involuntarily unemployed at one phút giây or another. As the number of older workers increases, the problem of their job readjustment & unemployment will be compounded. The achievement of fuller employment opportunity in the economy as a whole will provide more jobs for older workers. At the same phút giây, the pace of changing công nghệ, changing jobs, changing educational requirements, và changing personnel practices increases the need for special efforts if older workers ‘ employment prospects are béo improve significantly .
The Findings which follow in this báo cáo identify the extent béo which there is evidence of age ” discrimination ” of various kinds, particularly ” arbitrary ” discrimination, as a factor in the unemployment of older workers .
The Conclusions & Recommendations suggest measures which can và should be taken mập increase the economic & mạng xã hội well-being of the Nation & the satisfactions of life for millions of older American workers who will otherwise be the victims of discrimination in employment based on age .

II. Findings

Thes e findings cover the two areas specified in Section 715 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 :

Factors Which Might Tend to Result in Discrimination in Employment Because of Age.

The consequences of such discrimination on the economy và individuals affected .
In each case the findings relate bự the entire range of factors which tend mập have adverse effects on the employment of older workers. Some of these factors involve what is properly identified as arbitrary discrimination. Others bởi not. Yet some of these other factors not only have the same effect as arbitrary discrimination, but are equally susceptible phệ constructive action .

Factors Which Might Tend to Result in Discrimination in Employment Because of Age

Older workers are in general valued và often prized employees. Almost 97 percent of male workers 45 và end were employed in 1964. Persons over 45 make up 40 percent of the U.S. labor force, but only 27 percent of total unemployment, & only 17 percent of all the applicants registered at the public employment service offices. Most older workers who are not at retirement age bởi not get reemployed when they thua thảm jobs .
There is, nevertheless, clear evidence of the Nation’s waste today of a wealth of human resources that could be contributed by hundreds of thousands of older workers, và of the needless denial lớn these workers of opportunity for that useful activity which constitutes much of life’s meaning .
The central element identifiable in this situation is the fact of sluggish human adjustment & impersonal economic accommodation mập the present rapid pace of scientific & technological progress .
Thes e findings analyze the extent phệ which older workers are deprived of useful & profitable activity as a result of each of the four types of discrimination described in the Introduction phệ this báo cáo .
As has already been indicated in the Introduction, we find no significant evidence of the first kind of discrimination–that which is based on the kind of dislike or intolerance that sometimes exists in the case of race, màu, religion, or national origin, và which is based on considerations entirely unrelated mập ability Khủng perform a job .
We bởi find substantial evidence of arbitrary practice in the second category of discrimination–discrimination based on unsupported general assumptions about the effect of age on ability–in hiring practices that take the size of specific age limits applied Khủng older workers as a nhóm .
We find that in the third category, which involves decisions made about aging và the ability Khủng perform in individual cases, there may or may not be arbitrary discrimination on the basis of age, depending on the individual circumstances .
Individual circumstances may similarly lead bự arbitrary discrimination in the fourth category, that involving institutional arrangements which operate indirectly Khủng restrict the employment of older workers .

A. Discrimination Arising from Dislike or Intolerance

Discrimination in employment based on race, religion, màu, or national origin is accompanied by & often has its origins in prejudices that originate outside the sphere of employment. There are no such prejudices in American life which apply phệ older persons và which would carry kết thúc so sánh strongly into the sphere of employment .
The process of aging is inescapable, affecting everyone who lives long enough. It is gradual, minimizing và obscuring differences among people. At all times there are people of all ages living in close association rather than in separate và distinct mạng xã hội và economic environments. The element of intolerance, of such overriding importance in the case of attitudes toward other groups, assumes minimal importance in the case of older workers .
It is true that hiring officials are not immune bự the brightness, vigor, và attraction of youth, nor always above exploiting these attributes for commercial advantage. But such choices involve preferences for one nhóm, rather than antagonism against another .
We have found no evidence of prejudice based on dislike or intolerance of the older worker. The issue of discrimination revolved around the nature of the work và its rewards, in relation phệ the ability of people at various ages, rather than around the people as such. This issue thus differs greatly from the primary one involved in discrimination on the basis of race, màu sắc, religion, or national origin, which is basically unrelated béo ability mập perform work .
This is not mập say that there is no intolerant prejudice against older persons as such. Determinations not phệ employ older workers can become deep-seated & even emotional in character. But were this the sole matter, the degree mập which it exists would not warrant public concern .

B. Arbitrary Discrimination: Specific Age Limits

The most obvious kind of age discrimination in employment takes the khung of employer policies of not hiring people kết thúc a certain age, without consideration of a particular applicant’s individual qualifications. Thes e restrictive practices appear in announced employer policies ( e. g., in Help Wanted advertisements ; or in job orders filed with employment agencies ) or in dealings with applicants when they appear in the hiring office .
It has become generally realized that these broad age-limit practices have developed béo a point requiring public attention. Twenty States have passed statutory prohibitions of one size or another against them. But there has been no comprehensive study of their scope or effects, & the available information has been largely limited lớn two surveys ( in 1956 và in 1963 ) of age restrictions placed by employers on job openings filed with local Employment Service offices .
A special study of age limitations in hiring has accordingly been made in connection with the preparation of this báo cáo. This study is based on a survey made by the Bureau of Employment Security of the Department of Labor, through the Federal-State Employment Service system. The study covers a sample of kết thúc 500 employers, employing half a million workers, in five cities ( Baltimore, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Mo., Memphis, & Salt Lake City ). Thes e cities are all in States which did not, as of the giây phút of the study ( early 1965 ) have laws against age discrimination in employment. ( Indiana has since adopted such a law. ) The study includes both employers who tệp tin job openings with the Employment Service & others who vì not .
The đầy đủ study is contained in the volume of research materials, which accompanies this báo cáo .
This 1965 study, along with other available dữ liệu và information, permits the following findings .

1. The setting of specific age limits beyond which an employer will not consider a worker for a vacant job, regardless of ability, has become a characteristic practice in those States which do not prohibit such action, to the extent and with the result that in these States:

Over half of all employers are presently applying such limitations, using age limits typically set at from 45 to 55;

Approximately half of all job openings which develop in the private economy each year are closed to applicants over 55 years of age, and a quarter of them are closed to applicants over 45.

Almost three out of every five employers covered by the 1965 survey have in effect age limitations ( most frequently between 45 và 55 ) on mới ra hires which they apply without consideration of an applicant’s other qualifications. Twenty-seven percent of the employers reported formal upper age specifications for some or all occupations. It was determined on investigation that an additional 30 percent follow such a policy in practice .
The results of this survey are consistent with those in the 1963 Employment Service survey of the job orders filed by employers with the Service in eight cities ( Albuquerque, Baltimore, Houston, Indianapolis, Memphis, Salt Lake City ) in States having no laws prohibiting age discrimination. The 1963 survey revealed that about 30 percent of the job orders filed were limited bự men và women under 45, & kết thúc 40 percent were limited béo applicants under 55. A similar study in 1956 in seven other cities had shown even higher percentages of job orders with age restrictions : 40 percent fixed age 45 as an upper limit, & kết thúc 50 percent fixed age 55 as the limit .

2. The establishing by employers of stated age limitations (or, on the other hand, of stated policies against any age limitations) has a direct and marked effect upon the actual employment of older workers, with the result that:

The proportion of older workers hired by firms with stated upper age limits is half the proportion of older workers hired by firms with stated policies of ruling out age limits.

The proportion of older workers hired by firms with no stated policy regarding age limitations is significantly smaller than the proportion of older workers hired by firms with stated policies of ruling out age limits, especially with respect to workers 55 and over.

The 1965 survey shows the following :

Older hires as percent of total hires in
firms having –

Age of older hires Upper age limits No policy on age No age limits

Total, 45 years and over 6.9 8.6 13.0

45 to 54 years 4.7 6.5 9.5

55 to 64 years 1.9 1.8 3.3

65 years and over .3 .3 .2

A very small proportion of mới ra employees hired today are 45 or older. One-fifth of the employers surveyed hired no older workers at all. ( See chart 1. ) Thes e facts in themselves indicate, of course, nothing about discrimination .

The state of labor supply & demand obviously has an important influence on employer hiring policies. Restrictions tend lớn be eliminated, eased, or waived when the employer cannot recruit under rigid specifications. The 1965 survey, lượt thích earlier surveys, shows somewhat fewer restrictions ( i ) in skilled occupations, the traditional crafts, & the professional & semiprofessional positions, where there are widespread shortages, & ( ii ) in the expanding but traditionally lower paid retail sales và service occupations. Age limitations are most frequent for clerical positions & for semiskilled & unskilled work, & for ” outside ” salesmen. Similarly, the manufacturing industries, with the notable exception of apparel, are hiring relatively few people end 45. Retail stores, hotels, personal và medical service industries, và government agencies are generally hiring older workers in substantially larger proportions .
It is reasonable Khủng expect that present age restrictions would be eased phệ some extent under conditions of fuller employment. This has happened in the past, particularly in periods of national emergency. There is no current indication, however, of any general or significant relaxation of present age restrictions in hiring on the basis of prospective overall economic developments alone .
The prospect is, rather, that the continuation of age limitations will have a substantial adverse effect upon the employment opportunities of older workers .

3. An unmeasured but significant proportion of the age limitations presently in effect are arbitrary in the sense that they have been established without any determination of their actual relevance to job requirements, and are defended on grounds apparently different from their actual explanation.

Conclusive determination of the extent phệ which age restrictions are arbitrary would necessitate detailed examination of the reasons for the limitations in individual cases, under carefully established procedures including, almost necessarily, some size of hearing process. No such proceedings were envisaged in Section 715 of the Civil Rights Act, và none have been instituted .
It is apparent, however, from evidence obtained during the course of this study, that a great many age limitation policies are based in fact on considerations quite different from those offered as ( và undoubtedly believed mập be in many cases ) their explanation .
The explanations given by employers for the adoption of age limitations include ( as reflected in the 1965 study ) a variety of factors :

Physical capability

A policy of promotion-from-within and accompanying restriction of hiring to younger ages and entry jobs.

Ability to hire younger workers for less money, and concern that older workers’ earnings expectations are “too high.”

Pension plans (costs and provisions), and to a much lesser extent, costs of health and life insurance.

Lack of skills, experience, or educational requirements.

Limited work expectancy.

Training costs and low productivity.

Lack of adaptability and undesirable personal characteristics.

Desired age balance in the work force.

Physical capability is by far the most prominent single reason advanced for imposing upper age limits .
There are unquestionably some jobs involving physical demands so sánh unusual that it represents not only good business sense but common decency not mập assign them bự workers whose age increases the possibility of some weakening of body toàn thân tissue .
It is relevant, however, in determining the true basis for these age limitations which are explained in terms of physical demands of work

That in 70 percent of the cases of claimed basing of age limits on physical capabilities reported in the 1965 survey, no studied basis for this conclusion was reported;

That there is a vast difference between various employers’ ideas concerning the age at which physical demands should exclude workers from jobs involving similar duties–so that in the 1965 survey physical requirements were reported to account for restrictions as low as 25 years of age and as high as 60 for groups in occupations involving comparable physical exertions and demands for strength;

That a great many responsible employers do hire older workers for jobs other employers bar them from on the basis that their age alone disproves their capability.

The very generality of many of the age limitations indicates their character. They exclude all potential mới nhất employees above a certain age, without any differentiation among the various jobs which may be involved & with no provision for determination of whether particular applicants might be qualified despite their age .
Further illumination comes from the responses which employers using age limitations made phệ an inquiry included in the 1965 Employment Service survey concerning the circumstances under which these restrictions might be waived. Labor supply conditions outweigh any other considerations. Many employers using age restrictions indicate a willingness mập hire ” over-age ” workers if they cannot get younger workers, but will not consider them on their merits if the jobs can be filled with younger workers. Some state that older workers would only be hired if their abilities exceeded those of younger workers .
The various studies show that upper age limits phối on a companywide basis are generally lower than those phối for specific jobs. The higher the skill cấp độ, the greater the demand for workers, the higher the age limit ; age limits for professional, managerial, và skilled workers are typically phối at 50 or higher ; for service workers also at 50 or above ; for clerical workers & salesmen below 50 ; & for semiskilled & unskilled below 45. A clear reflection of job market judgment is apparent in the setting of these ages .

4. The competence and work performance of older workers are, by any general measures, at least equal to those of younger workers.

The Bureau of Business Management at the University of Illinois in a study of supervisory ratings in manufacturing establishments in 1954 found that 11 percent of the workers 60 years old & kết thúc received excellent ratings for overall performance ; only ba percent received poor ratings. On work unique, 32 percent were rated better than young workers, 60 percent the same & tám percent poorer .
A 1959 Canadian study of sales persons in retailing showed that workers hired above the age of 40 attained higher performance ratings in a shorter period than workers hired below 30 years of age. They reached their peak performance in their fifties .
Department of Labor studies of factory production work involving physical effort indicate that a slight decrease does not become substantial until age 60. In office or other sedentary work little, if any, decline occurs prior Khủng age 60, và the subsequent decline is minor .
So far as the allegedly key issue of physical capability is concerned, a comprehensive đánh giá of available medical và psychological evidences reveals no tư vấn for the broad age lines which have been drawn on the basis of claimed physical requirements. To the contrary. The basic research in the field of aging has established that there is a wide range of individual physical ability regardless of age .
The most extensive series of recent studies are those reported by A. T. Welford in 1958 on the basis of the Nuffeld Foundation’s basic work on aging & human skill, covering the postwar period. Thes e studies attribute most of the deterioration of ability béo changes in the central nervous system, & indicate that these changes bởi vì not affect occupational skills in any significant numbers of cases before age 60 .
The Nuffeld Foundation studies bởi point mập increasing differences of individual performance with advance in age. They show, however, at the same giây phút, an increasing capacity of the human system béo compensate for diminishing abilities, và a wide range of occupational requirements which falls well below the usual range of personal capacities subject béo these requirements. The scientific findings, if they were mập be translated into hiring policies, would clearly rule out policies based on rigid age limits .
One of the higher hiring rates for older clerical workers found during the course of the 1965 study is in the postal service, where appointments are made, under Civil Service regulations, without regard bự age. Although postal clerks are engaged in some of the most physically demanding of the clerical occupations, a study made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the relative performance of Federal mail sorters in 1963 showed an equal performance màn chơi for the older workers .
Here again, the strongest indication of the lack of real basis for the most age limitations is the demonstrated willingness of so sánh many American employers bự consider older workers on their merits as individuals & bự hire them. Although one out of every five of the employers included in the 1965 Employment Service survey hired no mới nhất employees among applicants kết thúc 45 years of age, another one-fifth hired at least 15 percent in this age nhóm. Many of these firms reported an active policy of recruiting older persons, & praised them for performance và dependability .
It is significant that employers & supervisors often rate their own older workers high on overall performance, but are at the same giây phút reluctant béo hire mới ra employees in the same brackets .

5. Arbitrary age discrimination is significantly reduced in States which have strong laws, actively administered, directed against discrimination based on age.

There are today twenty States which have adopted statutes prohibiting discrimination in employment on basis of age ( See chart 2. )
The State laws against discrimination in employment on tài khoản of age cover about half of the nonagricultural employment of the U.S. và Puerto Rico :

Colorado (1903) Alaska (1960)

Louisiana (1984) Delaware (1960)

Massachusetts (1937 and 1950) California (1961)

Rhode Island (1956) Ohio (1961)

Pennsylvania (1956) Washington (1961)

New York (1958) New Jersey (1962)

Connecticut (1959) Nebraska (1963)

Wisconsin (1959) Hawaii (1964)

Oregon (1959) Idaho (1965)

Puerto Rico (1960) Indiana (1965)

North Dakota (1965)

All but three of these laws have been passed since 1955 ; three were passed in the 1965 legislative sessions. Typically, they apply lớn employers, employment agencies và labor organizations, with certain exceptions for domestic service, agriculture & small employers. They ban discriminatory practices on trương mục of age, including refusing phệ hire, discharging, or discriminating in compensation or other terms or conditions of employment. Over half of the States forbid including age limitations in Help Wanted ads or inquiries by employers & employment agencies. Most of these laws are administered as part of Civil Rights legislation .
As part of the preparation for this báo cáo, a conference of State administrators of age discrimination laws was convened by the Secretary of Labor, in September 1964, phệ seek their views on the effectiveness of such legislation. This was followed by detailed inquiry into experience in seven States. Experience under these laws is summarized in a special analysis contained in the separate volume of research materials which accompanies this báo cáo .
There is clear evidence that in those States where a firm position has been taken, at least the obvious forms of discrimination have diminished, và job opportunities for middle-aged và older workers have increased. The existence of a State law with penalties for violations has made efforts Khủng resolve complaints more effective than has been the case where there have not been such penalties. Age limitations have virtually disappeared from Help Wanted ads in the States which have prohibited them .
However, inadequate funds và staff have limited the effectiveness of these laws in most States. Some have not been implemented at all. In some cases, the broad responsibilities of State agencies Khủng khuyến mãi with cases of discrimination on tài khoản of race, màu sắc, or religion, as well as age, have resulted in administrative burdens too large for the staffs that were authorized .
Despite these administrative limitations, the State agencies báo cáo numerous cases in which complaints have been adjusted in conferences with employers, with the result that older persons were retained or accepted by employers. More than two-fifth of the complaints from workers who believed that they had been discriminated against because of their age were found lớn involve a sufficient degree of arbitrary discrimination mập warrant administrative action Khủng bring the employer into compliance .

6. The Federal Government has adopted a broad and effective policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of age so far as its own employment policy is concerned, and has extended this principle to cover Government contractors.

The Federal Government’s own established policy of hiring on merit through Civil Service procedures, without regard mập age, is of long standing. Its compulsory retirement age is 70, with occasional exceptions .
Executive Order 11141, issued by President Johnson on February 12, 1964, established a Federal policy against discrimination in employment on tài khoản of age by Federal contractors và subcontractors. The Order includes no enforcement provisions & no special administrative machinery for dealing with complaints, providing only that Federal Departments & agencies ” take appropriate action lớn enunciate the policy. ” Procurement regulations have been amended & the Order has been given wide circulation among larger contractors. Their responses have indicated that the Order stimulated reappraisal of hiring policies respecting age. There have been only a few complaints from individuals & where they have involved violations of the Order they have resulted in changes in employer policies .
Executive Order 11141 includes a special provision regarding elimination of age limitations from employment advertising. A check of Help Wanted ads of Federal contractors appearing in leading newspapers in 25 cities in the spring of 1965 indicated that less than 5 percent had age specifications .

C. The Necessary Recognition of Forces of Circumstance

Consideration has been in the preceding section mập the arbitrariness of specific age limitations, indiscriminately applied. It is equally important Khủng recognize the force of certain circumstances which unquestionably affect older workers more strongly, as a nhóm, than they vì younger workers .
There can be many reasons why a particular older worker does not get a particular job, & some of them can well be associated with that worker’s age. There are differences among people, và some individuals, for a variety of reasons, become less employable as they grow older, just as others become more employable as they grow older .

1. The health factor is different as between older and younger workers.

A particular worker may develop a serious health problem which limits his availability for a wide variety of jobs. This health problem would, in the case of a younger worker, have similar effect. But if it is the kind of health problem that is more likely Khủng be serious among older workers, then older workers affected by it are more likely béo be rejected for certain jobs on this trương mục .
This in no sense means that it would be reasonable bự exclude all older workers from consideration for such jobs because as a nhóm they are more subject bự specific health problems associated with growing older. But it does mean that when older workers get considered on their merits, a certain proportion of them fail bự qualify .
The medical & psychological findings concerning the abilities of older workers mập vì specific tasks have already been cited. With increases in the range of individual differences among workers as age advances, it is inevitable that some will fail lớn meet requirements .
Studies relating béo health & age have generally found fewer acute illnesses among older than among younger workers, but show that the older ones are more prone béo chronic conditions. Chronic conditions may not prevent the employed from continuing bự work, but may well result in a higher rejection rate ( for example following physical entrance examinations ) among unemployed older workers. The health of the older worker ( as well as of the younger ) is considerably poorer among the unemployed than among the employed. In 1961 – 62, days of restricted activity ( due lớn acute conditions ) among unemployed 45-64 year olds were twice those of the employed ( 8.8 versus 4.0 ). Ten percent of the employed men aged 45-64 had major activity limitations due bự chronic conditions ; 26 percent of the unemployed had such limitations. Differences between older & younger workers are similarly more pronounced among the unemployed .

2. The educational attainment of older workers–or the inadequacy of it–is often a bar to their employment for specific kinds of work, either because of inability to meet specific job requirements or employer preferences, or because younger workers meet them better.

The fact that most older workers obtain hot nhất employment despite rapid technological change indicates the value employers place on their experience, capacities, và stability. But those with inadequate education have far less success in obtaining work than those who are well prepared .
Unemployment rates are inversely related lớn education in all age groups. Thus, in March 1964, 7 percent of the Trắng male workers 45 years old và end with less than tám years of schooling were unemployed as compared with 5.4 percent of those who finished elementary school, 2.6 percent of those who finished high school & 1.1 percent of those with bốn or more years of college. The same pattern held true for White women workers .
The pattern for nonwhite workers, though similar, showed less difference because of other factors which result in higher unemployment rates in the nonwhite nhóm regardless of their education : 7.5 percent of the nonwhite men with tám years of schooling or less were unemployed as compared with 6.3 percent of those who finished high school ; percentages for nonwhite women workers in this age nhóm were 6.7 percent & 3.8 percent respectively. Changes in the nature of jobs và continually rising levels of education have combined bự lift employers ‘ educational requirements và preferences. Many older workers now have insufficient education phệ qualify for the types of jobs which have been growing most rapidly : medical và dental technicians, nurses, therapists, technical sida in the sciences và engineering, mechanics & repairmen for complex equipment và machinery. Even for many plant production jobs in the major industries, employers for a variety of reasons seek young workers with high school educations or equivalent vocational training .
When older workers are displaced from their accustomed work, they must compete with younger, better educated workers. According mập the most recent báo cáo on educational attainment of workers, that of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for March 1964, three-fifths of those who are 55 years và end have less than a high school education ; more than one in five has less than tám years of schooling. ( See chart ba. )
The schooling of about one in ten White & one in five nonwhite unemployed workers 45 years or kết thúc is below the literacy màn chơi, represented by five years of schooling, a demarcation point used generally among educators. Thes e older workers usually bởi vì not even qualify Khủng enter training programs designed béo develop mới nhất skills or refurbish outmoded ones, under the Manpower Development và Training Act .
That educational handicap is a barrier bự employment is confirmed further by Bureau of Labor Statistics studies in 1962 và 1963 of displaced workers in five different industries : petroleum refining, foundries, và manufacturing of automobile equipment, glass jars, và floor coverings. The older displaced workers who completed high school had substantially less unemployment than those who did not. Displaced workers who were not seeking employment were primarily the less educated nhóm who gave up hope in view of their combined handicap of age và inadequate education. W. H. Franke & the late R. C. Wilcock of the University of Illinois, in their studies in six midwestern cities in 1960 – 62, reported similar findings. Thes e studies are cited in the research materials which accompany this báo cáo .
Many older workers find it strange & difficult béo go back phệ school as they recall it after many years of work và life. The experience of the Employment Service in serving these older people indicates quite clearly that special efforts are needed mập help them kết thúc the hurdle of going back bự some size of schooling-even at an adult level-and special programs under the Manpower Development & Training Act are being designed for this purpose ( with the aid of the National Council on Aging ). It has also become clear as a result of efforts under the Manpower Development & Training Act that training must be custom tailored & must be accompanied by special job placement & job development assistance .
The Manpower Development và Training Act program ( preceded by the training program under the Area Redevelopment Act for depressed areas ) is the first national education và training program directed specifically at the training & educational needs of the unemployed throughout the country. While there is now some means of assisting those who are unemployed, there is, as yet, virtually no means of assisting the employed whose education or training is deficient or outmodedhttps : / / babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435014781413;view=1up;seq=5persons as it were, who are not in trouble, but who are heading for it. The Nation’s adult education programs vì not reach the great bulk of older people while they are employed or afterward. Neither offerings nor educational methods are oriented toward the particular needs và interests of older workers in the population .

3. Technological change itself affects the older worker’s employability, not so much as a factor bearing on individual capacity, but as a significant influence on the environment in which the worker has aged.

The jobs under hot nhất công nghệ are different from those for which the older worker was trained & in which he worked & acquired his experience. Often mới ra jobs are in geographic locations Khủng which younger more điện thoại workers are attracted ; conversely, many older workers are entrenched in areas from which jobs have disappeared .
As mới ra công nghệ displaces older industries & plants & job methods, older workers are especially vulnerable lớn the changes which follow. Study after study kết thúc the last decade has pointed phệ the same conclusions : those made by Wilcock và Franke, already cited ; those made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics ; và the experience of the U.S. Employment Service in projects phệ help displaced workers in cases of plant shutdowns, including the current project in South Bend, Indiana .
Older workers are often in jobs và plants newly established a generation or two ago. Their skills & experience are not always transferable, và the plants và industries which are mới ra today are often geographically distant from the old. As mới ra fuels have supplanted coal, for example, và as coal mining công nghệ itself has improved, older miners have been stranded far from mới nhất centers of opportunity. Many of the older consumer goods manufacturing industries have shifted away from the long established centers of population, in response phệ hot nhất markets và mới nhất công nghệ. Older workers displaced as a result of these shifts have often been stranded in the areas of decline. It is the younger workers, less encumbered with family, trang chủ, và community associations, who have followed the course of the Nation’s industrial advance .
This is true of older workers not only in declining or depressed areas but generally of displaced older workers anywhere when công nghệ changes the character of their jobs or their geographic location. A Bureau of Labor Statistics study of displaced workers from an automotive equipment plant, described in the research materials that accompany this báo cáo, illustrates the seriousness of this problem even when transfers Khủng the mới nhất locations are offered with đầy đủ retention of benefits. In this case only one-third of the workers accepted offers of transfer. Many who owned homes had lớn commute long distances daily béo their mới nhất work location. Two out of five of those who did not accept transfer were still unemployed 10 months after their layoff .
Thes e changes in công nghệ và in the location of industry have also left older industries with higher than usual concentrations of older workers. In turn, this concentration has given rise phệ special programs for compulsory or early retirement in ” declining ” industries–and even in stable or growing industries during period of economic downturn–designed Khủng open opportunities for younger workers. Moreover, the very availability of Social Security benefits, although yielding only a minimum income ( which has lớn be supplemented from other sources ) mập workers in retirement, has made it possible phệ rationalize involuntary retirements induced for reasons of company manpower or personnel policy .
Further, the development of ” special early retirement ” incentive programs under private pension plans has opened up additional opportunities for even earlier separation of hot nhất groups of older workers. While special benefits are generally offered phệ induce retirement prior phệ the normal retirement age, the practice tends phệ push downward the ages at which employers are willing mập employ older workers for mới ra jobs or vacancies .
The pace of technological change, và its effect on the growth & decline of industries, has meant not only changes in the jobs that men hold, but more job changes during their working lives. Workers in the closing decades of this century will have held many more jobs during their lifetimes than did their parents & grandparents. New plants staffed with young work forces may give way béo hot nhất activity before their workers grow old ; a young work force might then come Khủng be regarded as a ” normal ” work force, & the hiring of older workers as ” exceptional. ”

4. There is no evidence that unusual numbers of individual older workers fail of selection because of valid advance judgments about expected productivity.

Obviously individuals in all age groups fail lớn pass a variety of aptitude & other entrance tests. But there is no evidence that older workers ‘ experiences are different from those of the population generally, except in one respect-the better showing of younger, better-educated workers on tests in which performance is affected by recency of education và testing experience .
Judging expected performance is a difficult task. Wide variations in performance exist among individuals of every age nhóm. All of the studies of job performance of older workers have found this mập be true in all of the types of work studied .
Studies made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of job performance of workers in factory production jobs, in office work, & in mail sorting jobs, for example, show that average performance of older workers compares most favorably in office jobs, where productivity equaled that of younger groups & steadiness of output from week béo week rose with age, và compares least favorably in production jobs, where average production declined slightly after age 45, somewhat more markedly after age 55, và substantially after age 65. Among the mail sorters, there was no significant production decline until age 65. Studies by the Canadian Department of Labor of retail sales personnel show that peak performance was reached in the fifties ( 51-55 in one case & 56-60 in the other ) .
The Bureau of Labor Statistics studies of production workers also show that individual variation from the average in every age nhóm is substantial, indicating that in each of the groups many workers will be found whose performance may be considerably below the average, as well as above average. Over two-fifths of the men 45-54 years of age, & end 30 percent of the men 55-64 of age in footwear plants had an output per manhour greater than the average for the age nhóm 35-44. Conversely, of course, 57 percent of those 45-54 and 68 percent of those age 55-64 had an output equal lớn or lower than the average for the nhóm age 35-44 .
Thes e findings show the injustice of judging workers by the average for the nhóm rather than on the basis of their individual abilities. They also show the futility of using past average performance of an overall nhóm phệ judge superiority và inferiority of a particular applicant for work .

D. Institutional Arrangements that Indirectly Restrict the Employment of Older Workers

A broad range of personnel programs & practices affect the employment of older workers, although they were not developed for this purpose. Instituted phệ bring efficiency, equity, order, và improved fringe benefits, they operate with some force against older workers not within their compass .

1. The efficient operation of modern business requires specialized personnel administration and established personnel rules.

This often means rather general rules, và the application of general rules–often a ” book of rules ” — Khủng individual cases. This is as true of hiring policies respecting age as it is of other matters of personnel policy .
The 1965 Employment Service survey found that hiring policies were preponderantly phối by central managements, including personnel officials. Yet in only one case in six was a positive non-discriminatory policy reported with respect phệ age. The practice of generalizing personnel hiring policy by arbitrary rules which ignore individual differences is itself a factor that deprives companies of talent & qualified workers of opportunity .

2. Personnel policies are properly designed to establish an orderly system for assignment and promotion of already employed workers.

Promotion-from-within policies, accepted as desirable by management & worker alike, very often restrict hiring from outside the firm Khủng lower wage entry levels, traditionally regarded as more suitable for younger workers. Staffing mập assure the ” age balance ” of the work force, or continuity of operation by advance designation of successors, also restricts outside recruitment phệ low-level jobs và younger workers .
Starting the older worker at a low-level job involves not only age balance, but questions of pay. For the experienced worker an entry job often means a reduction in earnings cấp độ. Resistance Khủng such cuts in earnings has been found lớn limit reemployment opportunities in several case studies of displaced workers. Some refusals béo hire older workers were explained on this basis by employers cooperating in the 1965 Employment Service study ; in other cases employers were reluctant mập offer jobs at pay levels they regarded as appropriate for younger workers. Employers also expressed the view that younger workers could in general be employed at lesser rates of pay .
The question of earnings also arises in the administration of unemployment insurance ; workers, particularly those experiencing long periods of unemployment, are counseled béo be realistic about earnings horizons, và failure mập adjust phệ realistic levels is often cause for disqualification under State statutes. Under the program of Federal extended unemployment benefits proposed by the President & contained in H.R. 8282 và S. 1991, greater emphasis is phệ be placed on such counseling of unemployed workers .

3. Seniority systems which generally protect older workers in their jobs–because of longer service, not age as such–sometimes operate to impede the employment of other older workers with long industrial service but without recall rights in particular seniority units.

Where seniority units for layoff purposes are narrow they may result in layoffs of workers who have longer service than workers in other seniority units who are retained. And while older workers are being laid off in one seniority unit, mới nhất workers may–under some collective bargaining agreements–be hired in another .

4. Employer attitudes toward the hiring of older workers are affected by fear of rising costs under recent court decisions interpreting State workmen’s compensation laws.

As a result of court awards for disabilities stemming from pre-existing conditions such as arthritis, heart malfunction, diabetes, và other degenerative diseases that employers had contended were not job related, some employers are becoming reluctant lớn employ older workers ( as well as handicapped workers ). Further information on these developments is contained in the research materials which accompany this báo cáo .
Neither the operation of the workmen’s compensation laws nor of the unemployment insurance systems can be expected Khủng lessen employer concern end such costs. What is involved is a major gap in coverage for disabilities that are not job related-a gap which itself erects a barrier lớn the employment of the older worker .

5. The private pension, health, and insurance plans which have improved the situation of employed workers are probably affecting adversely the hiring of unemployed older workers.

It is not clear phệ what extent these restraints arise directly from cost factors & béo what extent they are the result of kế hoạch operations largely unrelated lớn costs. A recent Bureau of Labor Statistics analysis of the costs of these plans, và extensive actuarial calculations covering pension costs, are summarized in the research materials which accompany this báo cáo .
Private pension plans now cover more than a third of the nonfarm work force và health & insurance arrangements cover three out of four. There are many types of plans, ranging from pension và health & insurance packages purchased by companies willing bự spend specific amounts of money Khủng elaborate self-insured arrangements .
The variety of these plans is paralleled by variations in their costs. Under one important nhóm of pension plans, for example, average annual costs, if calculated separately by age groups, is about USD 80 a year higher for workers hired in their late forties than for workers hired in their late twenties. This does not necessarily mean, however, that overall costs increase when firms follow policies of hiring older workers. Where vesting of employee pension credits is provided, the differential costs are smaller. Moreover, where benefit formulas are based largely on highest earnings or earnings during the last few years of service, the ultimate pension costs could be greater for newly hired young employees than for older ones .
Since life insurance plans are nhóm plans, the most important cost factors are the average age & experience of the nhóm. If turnover keeps average age relatively constant, employers are không tính tiền béo hire older workers without added cost .
When insurance costs are calculated by age groups, they are as a whole related lớn age. The BLS study estimates that for large employers, net insurance premiums after dividends for a $ 5,000 life insurance policy are almost USD tam per month higher for workers 45 béo 54 years old than for those under 45, và USD tám per month more for workers 55 mập 64 .
Age is a far less important factor in health care ; differential costs basically depend upon marital status và family coverage rather than age. Costs for married workers & their families are about the same for all ages up phệ nearly 65. For large plans, the net costs for single men–who are less than a third of all nonfarm male employees–although much lower than for married men with families, show differentials of about USD tam per month for men 45 bự 54, và USD 5 per month for men 55 mập 64, kết thúc costs for workers under 45. Accident & sickness plans show similar differentials .
The overall cost of a health và insurance program will be affected by experience rating ( although this does not apply in a large number of cases ), by funding methods, và by hiring policies which affect experience. The cost of a typical health & insurance package for a company with a hiring policy that concentrates on young workers may prove phệ be less than that for a company with balanced hiring in all age brackets .
Cost considerations vì not, however, always operate against the older worker. Where benefit formulas yield smaller pensions for newly hired older workers the costs are not greatly affected ; where central funds are established, as in multi-employer plans, an individual employer’s contribution is not ordinarily affected. Similarly, the purchase of nhóm insurance is often handled without regard mập changes in the age distribution of the work force, và medical insurance is often purchased from community organizations at communitywide rates. In some cases, special plans have been developed which are neutral with respect mập the relationship of cost Khủng age. Older workers are widely hired by employers with pension & insurance plans as well as by those without such plans .
Relatively few employers, in fact, cited the costs of providing pension & insurance benefits as significant barriers Khủng employment of older persons when being interviewed during the course of the 1965 Employment Service study of employer hiring practices và policies. Even in cases where they mentioned pension & insurance, cost was not the principal factor involved. Rather, what was cited was the company policy of excluding mới ra employees beyond a certain age from coverage under pension plans–exclusions generally developed because of the giây phút required Khủng build up minimum credits–and in the case of insurance presumed inability phệ pass physical examinations .
The age exclusions under pension plans vary widely from under age 50 bự end age 65 ; more than a third of them are mix at or below age 55. ( See chart bốn. )
They undoubtedly have an effect upon hiring age limits. Employers in some cases are averse béo hiring workers excluded from major fringe benefits. In other situations, they are reluctant béo provide a reduced và less costly màn chơi of fringe benefits. In still other cases they may be reluctant béo provide regular pension benefits if special additional costs would be involved .
Hiring age exclusions are often lower than pension kế hoạch age limits. The lower the established retirement age, the lower the hiring age is likely bự be, Khủng allow sufficient phút giây for acquiring pension eligibility và earning adequate pension. While 65 has been the usual age for normal retirement in most private pension plans as well as OASDI, there has been some lowering of this age in recent years. In addition, recently negotiated ” special early retirement ” clauses, which provide higher benefits than ” normal ” as incentives toward earlier retirement, can accelerate this trend toward earlier retirement, lower further the actual age of retirement, & exert more pressure on maximum hiring ages. In some cases these provisions bar the reentry of workers into certain types of activity, either in the same craft or industry .
The spread of compulsory và automatic retirement provisions has also lowered the age of retirement for many who want bự continue béo work beyond age 65. About one-third of men retired under OASDI regard their retirement as involuntary, as bởi about 10 percent of those retired under early retirement plans in recent years, according phệ Department of Health, Education, and Welfare & Cornell University surveys .

Provisions which enable workers bự carry earned pension credits with them Khủng hot nhất employment could aid the reemployment of older workers. Vesting provisions are found in about 2 out of ba plans covering ba out of 5 workers under private pension plans, according Khủng a recent analysis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If vested rights from previous employment were added Khủng the pension credits the older worker would earn in his mới nhất employment, his pension could be considerably higher than could otherwise be provided without added cost. This or other arrangements phệ facilitate portability of credits could reduce present employer reluctance phệ hire older workers .
Vesting would also narrow the present cost advantage that favors younger workers, & which arises partly because younger workers, without vesting & with greater turnover, often forfeit their pension rights .
The extent bự which the range of pension plan-induced limitations on employment can be considered phệ constitute arbitrary discrimination is not a simple matter, particularly in light of the great variations in kế hoạch provisions và employer practice. Case-by-case examination is necessary lớn separate reasonable from unreasonable practice .

The Consequences of Such Discrimination on the Economy and Individuals Affected

The consequences of discrimination embrace a wide range of production loss, human hardship, & frustrations. This may well include the loss of important innovations in the fields of science và công nghệ. Since our society has by no means yet worked out the role bự be played by older workers in their late years of life, what remains here is an unmeasured as well as untapped resource .

A. The Consequences to the Economy

It is a fair estimate that a million man-years of productive giây phút are unused each year because of unemployment of workers kết thúc 45 ; và vastly greater numbers of years are lost because of forced, compulsory, or automatic retirement .
The total costs phệ the Nation’s economy of the combination of factors which underlie discrimination on trương mục of age cannot easily be calculated. Even where the loss is tangible it is possible mập make only very rough approximations ; moreover, it is difficult phệ differentiate the effects of discrimination from other influences .
A substantial portion of the unemployment insurance payments of USD một billion a year lớn workers 45 & end can be attributed bự unemployment resulting in one way or another from the fact of the employee’s age. Some of these payments, of course, would go mập workers who are between jobs even under conditions of đầy đủ employment ; nonetheless, a large but incalculable portion involves long duration unemployment that reflects the difficulty which the older worker faces in attempting phệ find a mới nhất job. The Nation loses, furthermore, potential production in an amount at least two or three times the kích cỡ of the unemployment insurance payments that might be attributable bự discrimination .
It is impossible bự estimate what proportion of these costs of unemployment insurance và lost production result from ” arbitrary ” discrimination, of the kind which might be dealt with by a statute prohibiting discrimination in employment on the basis of age .
Only a hypothetical calculation can be made of the potential contributions of those who have retired involuntarily. Such a calculation would easily yield several billion dollars a year on the assumption that the participation rate for males 65 và end ( in either paid or voluntary activity ) might rise mập a point about halfway between the present labor force participation rate ( 28 percent ) & the 1948 rate of 47 percent ( less than half the participation rate for lower ages ), & that earnings would not on the average exceed the amounts possible without reduction of OASDI benefits. The fact that about one-third of the men retiring under OASDI regarded their retirement as involuntary–as previously indicated–suggests that these assumptions may not be unreasonable. Moreover, the results of this calculation are similar mập those of the late Professor Sumner Slichter who in 1952 estimated $ 3.8 billion in 1951 prices as a conservative measure of ” present loss of production from retired workers. ”

B. The Consequences to the Individual

The position of the individual older worker, relative mập the position of workers in prime age groups, reflects not only relative disadvantage, but deterioration as well .
The unemployment rate of male workers 45 & end last year was one-fifth greater than the rate in the 33-44 year nhóm .
Older workers ( 45 & end ) experienced more long-term unemployment than younger groups. ( See chart 5. ) On average this unemployment lasted tám weeks longer–about 75 percent longer–than the average duration of unemployment for workers under 45 .
The proportion of the very long-term unemployed ( end 27 weeks ) made up of men 45 và kết thúc has been rising in the face of a generally improved employment situation : from 31.5 percent in 1961 béo 33.6 percent in 1964 & has begun lớn improve only in recent months-a lagging improvement of the kind that has in the past generally characterized the unemployment situation of older workers after each period of downturn or inadequate growth .

This development is often accompanied by another kind of deterioration that cannot be measured-deterioration of skill & motivation, with consequent reduced acceptability mập employers .
Limited literacy & basic education have inhibited the retraining of older workers under the Manpower Development & Training Act. They are in fact badly underrepresented in such training. While workers 45 và end constitute 27 percent of the unemployed, they represent only 11 percent of MDTA trainees. This situation can be remedied Khủng some extent under the literacy amendments mập the act. But it will also be necessary phệ overcome the present administrative inhibitions which arise in part from the MDTA requirement concerning prospective employment opportunity .
The consequences of discrimination on the individuals affected go far beyond those attributable bự arbitrary refusal Khủng employ on the basis of age .
They show up in widespread uncertainty concerning the role of vigorous older persons in our society, & in personal frustrations và anxieties. While the opportunity Khủng retire with some income has meant leisure & escape from routine for a great many, it has also created mới ra uncertainties, particularly where opportunity béo retire has been converted into forced retirement, & where there is no mới nhất opportunity for satisfying occupation .
While the economic situation of retired workers has steadily improved with the increase in retirement benefits, it is still of great concern that almost one-seventh of the Nation’s poverty problem involves low-income persons kết thúc 65. The vast majority of older persons have virtually no financial assets béo supplement their pensions. Many are barely outside the poverty border : end 40 percent of married couples with one thành viên end 65 had incomes in 1962 of less than the USD 2500 required Khủng meet the budget estimated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as being ” modest but adequate ” for a retired elderly couple .

III. Conclusions and Recommendations

It would be the worst misfortune if the problem of age discrimination in employment, having come mập the Congress ‘ attention, were posed so sánh narrowly as mập result in superficial prescription .
The firmest conclusion from this year long study is that the most serious barriers lớn the employment of older workers are erected on just enough basis of fact lớn make it futile as public policy, và even contrary mập the public interest, mập conceive of all age restrictions as ” arbitrary ” và Khủng concentrate on the prohibition of practices which include this element .
A larger, more informed effort is required .
To the extent that arbitrary discrimination occurs, it can và should be stopped .
To the extent that obstacles exist mập the employment of older workers because of limitations in their abilities, these abilities must be enlarged .
To the extent that the process of matching men & jobs is working phệ the disadvantage of older workers, the process must be improved .
To the extent that employment security & income maintenance programs are having a wholly unintended adverse effect on the position of older workers who are unemployed, these programs must be adjusted .
All these things are possible given a national will & a national effort .
Such an effort will include four types of programs .

First: Action to eliminate arbitrary age discrimination in employment.

Second: Action to adjust institutional arrangements which work to the disadvantage of older workers.

Third: Action to increase the availability of work for older workers.

Fourth: Action to enlarge educational concepts and institutions to meet the needs and opportunities of older age.

Thes e recommendations are made pursuant phệ a Congressional directive that a study be carried out và that the Secretary of Labor báo cáo the results of such study và ” include in such báo cáo such recommendations for legislation bự prevent arbitrary discrimination in employment because of age as he determines advisable. ” Thes e recommendations derive only from the directive & the study. They bởi vì not constitute proposals by the Administration. Their ultimate consideration will necessarily be as part of a broader balancing with other important measures involving other needs .

Action to Eliminate Arbitrary Age Discrimination in Employment

There is persistent & widespread use of age limits on hiring that in a great many cases can be attributed only lớn arbitrary discrimination against older workers on the basis of age & regardless of ability. The use of age limits continues despite years of effort mập reduce this type of discrimination through studies, information và general education undertaken by the Federal Government & many States, as well as by non-profit & employer và labor organizations .
The possibility of mới nhất nonstatutory means of dealing with such arbitrary discrimination has been explored. That area is barren .
State experience with statutes prohibiting discrimination in employment on the basis of age indicates that such practice can be reduced by a well-administered & well-enforced statute, coupled with an educational program. It is clear from this experience that an educational program Khủng promote hiring on the basis of individual merit is far more effective when provided for by statute .
The elimination of arbitrary age limits on employment will proceed much more rapidly if the Federal Government declares, clearly & unequivocally, và implements so sánh far as is practicable, a national policy with respect béo hiring on the basis of ability rather than age .
Such implementation should emphasize the role Khủng be played by persuasion & education, both in general & in individual cases of alleged violations of policy, & should provide for action in the event that persuasion và education fail .
Specific provision should be made for handling instances of alleged arbitrary discrimination where the facts of the case indicate that the older worker in question needs reeducation, training, counseling, or health và other services. In these cases, the individual should be referred béo the appropriate programs for needed assistance .
While State laws have been increasing in number, some are not implemented at all, và, with few exceptions, the State resources have been inadequate for assuring effective compliance. Activities on behalf of older workers have had a tendency lớn become submerged in broader programs bự prevent discrimination on trương mục of race, màu, or religion .
A clear-cut và implemented Federal policy against arbitrary discrimination in employment on the basis of age would provide a foundation for a much needed vigorous, nationwide chiến dịch lớn promote hiring on the basis of ability rather than age .

Action to Adjust Institutional Arrangements Which Work to the Disadvantage of Older Workers

To eliminate discrimination in the employment of older workers, it will be necessary not only mập giảm giá with overt acts of discrimination, but also mập adjust those present employment practices which quite unintentionally lead Khủng age limits in hiring .
This will require special arrangements bự overcome employer reluctance Khủng hire qualified workers under present pension và seniority arrangements. It will be necessary béo modify some existing arrangements, bự encourage mới nhất kinds of employer & union actions, & lớn explore additional steps Khủng be taken by the Federal Government .

The report of the President’s Committee on Corporate Pension Funds and Other Private Retirement and Welfare Programs, issued in January 1965, includes a wide range of recommendations for public policy regarding private pension plans. One important recommendation aimed at wider adoption of vesting provisions in private plans would improve employment opportunities for older workers. Another recommendation which would have long range beneficial effects in this regard called for a study of the feasibility of a system of portable pension credits. These proposals should be given prompt and full consideration.

New forms of private annuity coverage for older workers not covered by present private pension arrangements should be encouraged, and consideration given to the status of such annuities under the tax laws. Such arrangements could provide annuity coverage in cases where costs inhibit the hiring of older workers, without requiring the modification of the existing pension plan.

A comprehensive formal review of the gaps and inadequacies of present systems of workmen’s compensation and disability insurance should be undertaken.

Methods should be developed for assisting private parties in collective bargaining to work out procedures which would open opportunities for hiring unemployed workers with long industrial service, while protecting the seniority rights of workers who are already employed.

Action to Increase the Availability of Work for Older Workers

The fundamental fact that will determine the situation of the unemployed older worker is the condition of the national economy. So long as there exists a considerable body toàn thân of unemployed persons, the unemployed older worker will be competing for jobs at a disadvantage. By & large, the hard present facts of education, training, & mobility work phệ the advantage of younger workers. Full employment comes first in any serious intention béo eliminate the disadvantages which unemployed older workers must overcome .
Given a high và expanding màn chơi of employment, however, a vigorous nationwide employment effort with mới ra & improved arrangements directed at the need of older workers, is required lớn provide the special counseling, training, & placement attention that will lead béo job opportunities .
The United States Employment Service và the affiliated State services constitute the basic operating resources for getting this job done. Where concentrated efforts have been made in behalf of older workers, the experience of the Employment Service clearly shows that substantial employment opportunities can be developed. But fully adequate program will require :

Additional intensive individual counseling and group counseling with specially trained counselors available for older workers, including veterans (many of whom are now in their forties and fifties) and military retirees;

The organization of new job-finding community activities, including self-help groups;

The development of part-time employment opportunities;

Referral to appropriate retraining projects and basic education courses, or to other facilities and services such as those provided in the field of vocational rehabilitation or to be provided under the pending Older Americans Act;

The organization of community efforts to change employers’ attitudes toward rigid age restrictions;

Intensification of programs for dealing with mass layoffs from plant shutdown, whether related to changes in defense programs or in civilian productions.

It will also require, under the Manpower Development và Training Act :

Larger provision for training and retraining opportunities for older workers, especially through on-the-job training;

Development of new and more effective methods of training adult workers;

More opportunities for basic education and income supplements to make this education practicable.

To achieve all this will hotline not only for action in hot nhất directions but for special leadership và attention the problems of the older worker at a key point in the administration of the Nation’s manpower programs. This should be a matter given special attention in developing the nationwide employment effort .
Labor & management must be relied on phệ work out techniques phệ help older workers meet the requirements of hot nhất jobs while they are still employed, và thus forestall the likelihood of unemployment. Several specific opportunities were emphasized in the 1962 Automation Report of the President’s Advisory Committee on Labor Management Policy :

Planning job changes in advance;

Cooperation between management and employee representatives to meet the problems involved;

Open reporting to the employees involved;

Timing of changes to take advantage of expansion and attrition;

Institution of severance pay programs based on length of service.

Techniques for the advance planning of manpower requirements are being applied in a number of industries, và have been used successfully in several difficult disputes end adjustment mập technological change .
Techniques are only beginning béo be developed for the redesign of jobs bự permit greater numbers of older workers Khủng function effectively và at high levels of productivity .
Techniques are being developed for effective pre-retirement planning which can mean the difference between good và poor adjustment. They encompass financial planning, living arrangements, the managing of money, health problems, & the question of what phệ bởi with one’s phút giây. They are best carried out at the work location và where possible under joint labor-management sponsorship .
There are many community tasks on which older persons can be employed. There are substantial community needs that have not been met, và for which local authorities bởi not have funds. A great giảm giá of this work can be done by older workers, và would be if Federal assistance were available in a khung similar phệ the present financing of the Neighborhood Youth Corps. Community work would recapture và preserve human abilities, utilize manpower, provide satisfying occupation, & forestall additions béo the mounting welfare case load .
Local communities should be encouraged và assisted phệ develop employment opportunities in cooperation with private enterprise as well as through public & non-profit agencies. Participation by private enterprise in the administration of parts of the War on Poverty, in connection with the Job Corps camps và work experience projects, và in the on-the-job training programs under the MDTA và President Johnson’s Job Development Program, open mới ra horizons for ingenuity và innovation. There are, & are likely mập continue phệ be, however, tens of thousands of workers with inadequate sources of income & no employment prospects, who are kết thúc 55, have exhausted unemployment compensation, và are not yet eligible for retirement benefits. It is not right or reasonable that those whom the economy has displaced at ages between 55 và 65 in the course of technical progress, và whom it will not take back into productive employment, should suffer because of the unavailability of work opportunity. A special program Khủng meet the income needs of this limited nhóm should be considered not only on its own merits but mập reduce the growing pressure for a costly early retirement system .

Action to Enlarge Educational Concepts and Institutions to Meet the Needs and Opportunities of Older Age

There is a still broader dimension mập all this .
The difficulties of being an older worker are only part of the difficulties of being an older person. There has been too narrow an emphasis on ” work, ” too little recognition of the broader concept of ” function ” — & the difference gets clearer when an individual’s giây phút for work is running out but his capacity, & need, mập function continue. Part of age discrimination in employment & part of the answer phệ it involve this relationship between work & function : for it wrong mập think so sánh much in terms of a person’s right or desire béo keep on indefinitely at the kind of thing he has always done .
Yet as things now stand, most people’s education & their experience are directed largely at what they bởi vì during their ” lifetime’s work ” & not at all at what they will vì when that work tapers off but a lot of life remains mập be lived .
What this study has made clear & this báo cáo must convey is the working of two powerful, related, but in a sense opposing processes : men và women are living longer lives than before ; but during their lives the world–of ideas, of institutions, of work và function–is changing more rapidly than ever before .
Through most of history, life has been a process of steadily increasing maturity & growing understanding of the world in which one lives. Suddenly, as life grows longer, the sum total of human knowledge is compounded faster, the pace of technological progress accelerates–and the process of getting older presents the prospect that as an individual ages he or she will become less rather than more, familiar with the essential facts of life .
In certain profound ways, people today diminish during their lives, in understanding. Today’s adult finds the grade school mathematics of his children difficult if not impossible béo grasp. H.G. Wells described civilization as a race between education và catastrophe. Acknowledging that lớn fall hopelessly behind events in middle age is indeed a catastrophe, means facing the further fact that more & more persons are losing that race .
If this appears removed from the issue of age discrimination in employment it is necessary Khủng say plainly that most of those who suffer the worst employment disadvantage with their advancing years are those with the least preparation for the changing demands of those years .
The point has now been reached where almost every boy & girl from age 6 phệ 16 is in school & a great majority of them finish high school. A much smaller number, about one in four, go on lớn college, và the evidence is clear that those who bởi vì are on the whole well equipped béo keep abreast of developments as they go through life. Their education chưa bao giờ really stops, or they are at all events able béo resume it when necessity or interest indicates that they should bởi so sánh .
But what about the others, those who leave off their education at high school, or before. The phút giây when a person could, before he was sixteen or eighteen, acquire a phối of skills, or ideas, và make bởi with them for life, is gone. If anything is certain, it is that most of the members of this nhóm, particularly the wage earners, will sooner or later urgently need further education & training. It is almost an iron law of the coming age, or indeed the present age. Yet there are at present only the most limited arrangements available Khủng provide that education và training. The direct needs of American wage earners, và the larger interests of American society, require that bold thought be directed Khủng means by which we can enable persons who did not attend college in their youth bự resume their education on meaningful & productive terms later in their life .
A mới nhất system of continuing educational opportunity should be developed for achieving better preparation of our older workers for economic & job changes, bự make them less vulnerable phệ displacement, lớn protect them against discrimination, và bự open the way béo more satisfying activity in retirement .

These opportunities should make it possible for individual workers to receive modern educations which will make up for earlier failure to complete grade school or high school, and should open opportunity for educational and technical refurbishment.

They should include appropriate financial assistance for limited but adequate periods of time. It will be important to explore a variety of methods by which new types of adult education can be woven into work life.

The financing of these new opportunities should be a matter of thorough study. Consideration might be given, for instance, to the possibilities of a new system of contributory insurance for educational credits for workers.

A program along these lines, in addition bự providing an entirely mới ra horizon of opportunity lớn those in the work force who are kết thúc 45, can also open hot nhất job opportunities for others while older workers are on ” educational sabbaticals. ” It can lead lớn the innovations & economic growth that hot nhất combinations of experience & modern education can provide, can furnish a basis for a mới ra type of economic activity, & can be a constructive size of distributing reduced hours of active work in our society. A một – year educational sabbatical, for example, is roughly the equivalent of a một – hour education in weekly hours end a working life. A 3 – month educational sabbatical is equivalent in thời gian béo an added coffee break each week of working life .
The basic reply then béo the Congress ‘ inquiry about what is required Khủng prevent age discrimination in employment is that there should be provided the opportunity for đầy đủ participating membership in the society until death–and that continuing education is the necessary & only possible qualification for such participation .

	Older hires as percent of total hires in firms having –
Age of older hires	Upper age limits	No policy on age	No age limits
Total, 45 years and over	6.9	8.6	13.0
45 to 54 years	4.7	6.5	9.5
55 to 64 years	1.9	1.8	3.3
65 years and over	.3	.3	.2

First:	Action to eliminate arbitrary age discrimination in employment.
Second:	Action to adjust institutional arrangements which work to the disadvantage of older workers.
Third:	Action to increase the availability of work for older workers.
Fourth:	Action to enlarge educational concepts and institutions to meet the needs and opportunities of older age.

All this is not the work of one legislative program, nor of one legislative session, but the giây phút is at hand Khủng go ahead. ” Knowledge comes, ” Tennyson wrote, ” but wisdom lingers. ” We possess the knowledge in general terms of what must be done. This báo cáo is offered in sincere hope that it will help muster the wisdom bự proceed .

Source: https://bacxiunong.com

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The Older American Worker – Age Discrimination in Employment

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

CONTENTS

I. Introduction

II. Findings

Factors Which Might Tend to Result in Discrimination in Employment Because of Age

A. Discrimination Arising from Dislike or Intolerance

B. Arbitrary Discrimination: Specific Age Limits

1. The setting of specific age limits beyond which an employer will not consider a worker for a vacant job, regardless of ability, has become a characteristic practice in those States which do not prohibit such action, to the extent and with the result that in these States:

2. The establishing by employers of stated age limitations (or, on the other hand, of stated policies against any age limitations) has a direct and marked effect upon the actual employment of older workers, with the result that:

3. An unmeasured but significant proportion of the age limitations presently in effect are arbitrary in the sense that they have been established without any determination of their actual relevance to job requirements, and are defended on grounds apparently different from their actual explanation.

4. The competence and work performance of older workers are, by any general measures, at least equal to those of younger workers.

5. Arbitrary age discrimination is significantly reduced in States which have strong laws, actively administered, directed against discrimination based on age.

6. The Federal Government has adopted a broad and effective policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of age so far as its own employment policy is concerned, and has extended this principle to cover Government contractors.

C. The Necessary Recognition of Forces of Circumstance

1. The health factor is different as between older and younger workers.

2. The educational attainment of older workers–or the inadequacy of it–is often a bar to their employment for specific kinds of work, either because of inability to meet specific job requirements or employer preferences, or because younger workers meet them better.

3. Technological change itself affects the older worker’s employability, not so much as a factor bearing on individual capacity, but as a significant influence on the environment in which the worker has aged.

4. There is no evidence that unusual numbers of individual older workers fail of selection because of valid advance judgments about expected productivity.

D. Institutional Arrangements that Indirectly Restrict the Employment of Older Workers

1. The efficient operation of modern business requires specialized personnel administration and established personnel rules.

2. Personnel policies are properly designed to establish an orderly system for assignment and promotion of already employed workers.

3. Seniority systems which generally protect older workers in their jobs–because of longer service, not age as such–sometimes operate to impede the employment of other older workers with long industrial service but without recall rights in particular seniority units.

4. Employer attitudes toward the hiring of older workers are affected by fear of rising costs under recent court decisions interpreting State workmen’s compensation laws.

5. The private pension, health, and insurance plans which have improved the situation of employed workers are probably affecting adversely the hiring of unemployed older workers.

The Consequences of Such Discrimination on the Economy and Individuals Affected

A. The Consequences to the Economy

B. The Consequences to the Individual

III. Conclusions and Recommendations

Action to Eliminate Arbitrary Age Discrimination in Employment

Action to Adjust Institutional Arrangements Which Work to the Disadvantage of Older Workers

Action to Increase the Availability of Work for Older Workers

Action to Enlarge Educational Concepts and Institutions to Meet the Needs and Opportunities of Older Age

Trả lời Hủy

Colorado (1903)	Alaska (1960)
Louisiana (1984)	Delaware (1960)
Massachusetts (1937 and 1950)	California (1961)
Rhode Island (1956)	Ohio (1961)
Pennsylvania (1956)	Washington (1961)
New York (1958)	New Jersey (1962)
Connecticut (1959)	Nebraska (1963)
Wisconsin (1959)	Hawaii (1964)
Oregon (1959)	Idaho (1965)
Puerto Rico (1960)	Indiana (1965)
	North Dakota (1965)