I hope the report also serves to put to rest outdated assumptions about older workers (who should more aptly be described as "experienced workers") and about age discrimination, which harm workers, their families and our economy. While it is not exhaustive (as there are treatises devoted to the ADEA, after all), it is meant to serve as a guide to the history and significant developments of the law. The scene having now been set, I offer this report, marking the 50th anniversary of when the ADEA took effect, culminating a year-long recognition by the EEOC of the importance of the ADEA as a significant civil rights law.
And, in 2016, Millennials surpassed the Baby Boomers as the largest segment of the workforce in 2016. Right behind the Boomers, the leading edge of Generation X are now in their early 50's. Instead of a career spanning one industry and a few positions as was expected at the beginning of their careers, most workers today are expected to have 11 different jobs in the modern, dynamic economy. Work life has changed dramatically since Boomers entered the workforce.
While about 10,000 Baby Boomers retire every day, many have inadequate savings for retirement. Today's Baby Boomers range in age from 54 to 72 and because of that nearly 20-year span in age, they have widely different considerations about work and retirement. But, there is one constant for today's 54-year-old and the one from 10 years ago - age discrimination.Īs experts testified at the EEOC's meeting in June 2017 on The ADEA 50 - More Relevant Than Ever, age discrimination remains a significant and costly problem for workers, their families, and our economy.Ī few additional points for your consideration. Today, jobs are plentiful and conditions are much more favorable for finding new jobs compared to 10 years ago. Now consider a 54-year-old worker who loses her job in today's economy. To make up for that financial loss, he will likely need to work longer than originally planned. Further, that new job may not have been on a par with the one he had before. The average unemployment duration for a 54-year-old was almost a year, and it may have taken that person two or three years to find a new job. A 54-year-old worker who may have lost his job in early 2008 at the beginning of the Great Recession is now 64 years old. This is very good news for America's workers.īut consider this: older workers who lose a job have much more difficulty finding a new job than younger workers. Instead of shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs each month, the economy is gaining them. At the EEOC, we were concerned that these job losses would hit older workers particularly hard.Īccordingly, shortly after I joined the Commission, one of the first public Commission meetings we held in November 2010, was about the " Impact of the Economy on Older Workers."įast forward to today, and as of this month, the nation is experiencing its lowest unemployment rate in 18 years. The effects of the Great Recession were still being widely felt throughout the economy, and predictions were that it would take the nation 10 years or more to recover from steep job losses. When I first joined the EEOC in April 2010, the job market was very different than it is today. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This month marks the 50th anniversary of the effective date of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (the ADEA) - one of the premier statutes enforced by the U.S.
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