Thursday, June 1, 2017

Wrinkles Shouldn't Matter

“Getting old is not for sissies,” Bette Davis famously said. Apparently, it’s not for women either—if they are looking for a job

Guide Magazine

In a recent US study, three economists submitted 40,000 fake applications responding to 13,000 online job postings in 12 cities across 11 states for positions in sales and administration as well as other positions. The resumes included those who were young (29-31), middle-aged (49-51), and traditional retirement aged (64-66), but were otherwise identical.

While the general pattern showed that older applicants received fewer callbacks, the difference for older women was pronounced. The older the woman, the less likely she was to get a response, providing compelling evidence that women face a much bigger hurdle when it comes to age discrimination in hiring than men. Older women had a 47 percent lower callback rate for administrative positions and 36 percent lower rate for positions in sales than younger women.

The economists drew three conclusions from their study:

1. “There is evidence of age discrimination in hiring, for both women and men.”

2. “While both middle-aged and older applicants experience discrimination relative to younger applicants, older applicants—those near the age of retirement—experience more age discrimination.”

3. “Women experience more age discrimination than men do. We do not have evidence on why age discrimination may be worse for older women, but it could be because applicant appearance matters in our sample . . . and the effects of aging on physical appearance are evaluated more harshly for women than for men.”

Employers need to keep in mind what Mark Twain said: “Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.”

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (frbsf.org)

Wrinkles Shouldn't Matter

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