HANDICAP OF AGE
PROCURING EMPLOYMENT LEAGUE INVESTIGATION SKILL VERSUS STRENGTH GENEVA, Oct. 21. Weighing arguments that have been advanced for and against the employment of older workers, a preliminary report on “Discrimination Against Elderly Workers,” which was submitted to the governing body of the International Labour Office when it met in London this month, finds that “in general, a hiring policy applying age as a decisive criterion appears to be unjustified.” “The essence of the matter,” declares the report, "seems to be that the older worker is preferable on the very important condition that he has retained sufficient physical ability for his job, to the performance of which he can bring experience and reliability. Tie may be particularly valuable where quality, rather than Quantity, is required. Preference, on the contrary, will be given to the vounger worker when physical strength, rapidity of work, and adaptation to new methods are called for.” Hence it concludes that “a rational hiring policy would consist in classifying jobs according to the capacity of |ho individual."
Deterioration of Skill Prepared by the International Labour Office at the request of Government, employers and ' workers’ representatives on the governing body, the report finds reason to believe that older workers are no more likely to lose their jobs than younger ones; but that once having lost his job it is 'more difficult for an older worker to find fresh employment. "A certain amount of deterioration in skill,” it explains, “is necessarily involved in long spells of unemployment, which becomes a definite handicap in obtaining fresh employment, especially in the case of skilled workers.” And it suggests that the present disproportion of unemployment among older workers “is probably due in part to the fact that, when recovery came, the younger workers generally, who were able to adjust themselves with greater readiness to recent technological changes in industry, and also the more adaptable of the older workers, succeeded in obtaining employment, while the less efficient remained unemployed.” As regards the time of life at which age becomes a disadvantage in obtaining employment, the report fixes this "very generally” at “around 45,” when the physiological efficiency of the average person beings to decline. Causes of Discrimination ■ Examining possible causes of discrimination against elderly workers, the report finds that while, on the one 1 hand, mechanisation has favoured ■ them by doing away with much heavy labour, on the other hand it has ag- 1 gravated their position by creating new forms of work, the increased i speed and intensity of which are so 1
exhausting that older workers cannot stand the strain. * ■ Some employers, the report pointi out, prefer older workers on the ground that they are more experienced and efficient and have better judgment: they are best fitted for certain jobs, especially where quality is' important; they are more reliable, and reduce labour turn-over. Other employers, however, object to them on the ground that they are unable to maintain a piece-work pace; they lack muscular strength; and their mental processes show signs of slowing down, Discussing possible discrimination growing out of the annual costs of insurance risks for sickness, invalid ity, old age and death, the r<?"hN admits that opportunities of employment for older workers may be restricted by the desire of employers to prevent an increase in insurance contributions. The Accident Risk But the belief sometimes expressed by American employers that older workers are a more expensive accident risk, is held by the report to be unfounded “as regards industry generally, though not perhaps for each industry separately.” In this connection, it points out that while the proportion of accidents resulting in permanent incapacity or death is greater among older workers, they are less liable to accidents than younger men. Hence, says the report, the greater cost of benefits to older workers ife balanced by the lower frequency of the accidents they experience. After enumerating the various remedies tnat have been proposed with a view to improving the position
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBH19381203.2.104
Bibliographic details
Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19803, 3 December 1938, Page 7
Word Count
659HANDICAP OF AGE Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19803, 3 December 1938, Page 7
Using This Item
The Gisborne Herald Company is the copyright owner for the Poverty Bay Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of the Gisborne Herald Company. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.