I’ve been posting stories on age prejudice for 12 years but one has to keep hopeful. This story is from the ABC and the full link is at the end of the blog.
Diane Roberts has been looking for work for the past seven years and believes age is her biggest hurdle. The 65-year-old from Geelong returned to Australia in her 50s after working in local government in the UK for 30 years.
She has been firing off applications for 15 jobs a week during a nationwide worker shortage as the calls are getting louder to end the bias against older jobseekers.
Tens of thousands of over-55s who would like to be working are unemployed. Ms Roberts said ageism is entrenched in Australia.
“The attitude towards older people in Australia is quite poor,” she said. “It’s a youth culture. And I think it’s very sad that that has happened. It’s such a shock to come back to Australia and realise how far behind we are.”
Having worked as a manager in health and social care within local government, she was well credentialed but said her UK qualifications were not recognised in her home country.
She went back to study last year, graduating in June with a high distinction in a diploma in justice but that didn’t secure her a job.
Ms Roberts ended up doing volunteer work for three years because she was told it would enhance her resume. But that experience, though valuable, didn’t provide a paid position.
While there was a push to try speed up the return of international workers to deal with the current labour shortages, recent figures showed mature job-seekers were being left behind.
In May 2022 there was an estimated 171,600 Australians aged 55-64 who were unemployed but would prefer to be working if the conditions were right.
One of the big concerns for Tim Bentley, who leads the Centre for Work and Wellbeing at Edith Cowan University, was some employers and recruiters were using ageist stereotypes to guide their decisions.
“It doesn’t have a place in the 21st century workforce,” he said. “Up until now, in many ways we have let it slide. Older job seekers need to be given the same opportunities as other workers.”