Research: Age Discrimination Among Workers Age 50-Plus
Age discrimination is not a new phenomenon. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on this serious problem that affects workers age 50-plus. The third survey in the Work & Jobs Data Series explores where age discrimination exists for adults age 50-plus in the labor force.
Age discrimination creates obstacles to getting hired.
The demand for skilled workers is providing the workforce with leverage to seek jobs with the flexibility and growth opportunities they desire. But for some workers age 50-plus, looking for a job or going through the interview process may be hindering their ability to land a job. Nearly one in six adults currently working or looking for work (15%) report that they were not hired for a job they applied for within the past two years because of their age. Among recent job seekers, 53% were asked by an employer to provide their birth date during the application or interview process, and 47% were asked to provide a graduation date.
Age discrimination exists in the workplace.
Research shows that about two in three adults age 50-plus in the labor force (62%) think older workers face discrimination in the workplace today based on age. And among them, nearly all (93%) believe that age discrimination against older workers is common in the workplace today. Roughly one third (32%) of older adults in the labor force report that in the last two years they heard negative comments in the workplace about an older co-worker's age. One in six (17%) say that they have been the recipient of negative comments about their age at work. Just over one in ten have been passed up for a promotion or chance to get ahead because of their age (13%).
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White House pushing to get more veterans into the trucking industry
The White House’s latest idea to fix the US's supply chain issues is to put more veterans in trucks.
Half a million veterans re-entered the US workforce in January, and comes as businesses nationwide have struggled with a host of supply chain issues. Getting products from warehouses to store shelves has been complicated by the ongoing pandemic and a lack of workers in key posts at ports and other transition stations.
White House officials have promoted increasing the number of truck drivers in America as a long-term solution to the problem, and offered a host of recent training initiatives to direct job seekers to the industry.
In the administration’s “Trucking Action Plan to Strengthen America’s Workforce” released in December, officials said that veterans skills and experience make them “excellent candidates to help address these challenges and build the next generation’s trucking workforce.”
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“Gig economy helps everyone” says TaskRabbit’s CEO
Gallup estimates gig work to be the primary job for 29% of American workers.
However, according to the National Institute for Workers' Rights, 54% of gig workers lack employee benefits, such as social security, health insurance, paid medical leave, overtime pay, and occupational safety protections, and they aren’t earning minimum wage, disproportionately affecting Black and Latinx workers who sit within those with the lowest wages and fewest protections.
Ania Smith, CEO of TaskRabbit, who built a career working for corporations at the center of the new gig economy such as Uber and Airbnb argues that the pandemic drew more attention to the vital role independent contractors play in society saying "the gig economy helps everyone".
But companies like Uber and Lyft have faced a lot of scrutiny for not providing full-time benefits for their contract workers.
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US web accessibility lawsuits grows by 15% in 2021
The number of US web accessibility lawsuits has grown 15% in 2021, with more than 10 such cases now filed everyday.
New research by UsableNet shows the ways lazy, often nonexistent, accessibility features on websites continue to make retailers vulnerable to a growing wave of web accessibility lawsuits. And so far, the courts are not offering much guidance to retailers.
'Retailers face the bulk of web accessibility lawsuits for several reasons,' says Jason Taylor, CIO at UsableNet. 'Among the causes are the complexity of retail sites and the enormous number of changes they undergo daily, the complexity and rate of change increase the chances for merchants to make mistakes updating their sites or adding third-party technology.' he says.
William Goren an attorney who specializes in ADA-related issues, says the best defense is for retailers to design their websites with accessibility in mind. As a guide, he says merchants and their web designers follow the World Wide Web Consortium’s widely used Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Version 2.1 (WCAG 2.1)
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