Employers' Attitudes Toward Older Workers and Obstacles and Opportunities for the Older Unemployed to Reenter Working Life

The present study aimed at identifying the attitude-related barriers that older unemployed, job-seeking workers (50+) face when they endeavor to reenter the labor market and to investigate employers' attitudes and perceptions of older workers. Two studies were conducted. In study 1, interviews were undertaken with 26 unemployed persons and 24 representatives of other stakeholders, including social partners and officials representing the Social Insurance Agency and the Public Employment Service. In study 2, the attitudes among private sector employers were studied by carrying out a questionnaire survey (N = 147). The interview results showed that many unemployed job seekers had experienced negative age-related attitudes among employers. This observation was supported by other stakeholders. About half (52%) of the employers had the opinion that there was no difference between older and younger employees with respect to the ability to cope with changes or learning new things. It is concluded that negative attitudes to older workers with respect to competence development tend to be most common among younger employers.