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Over-55s lose out in jobs marketTuesday 06 March 2012 The state-run benefit agency and job centre organisation UWV is to make 150 extra staff available to help the over-55s into work, according to its annual report. With the overall number of vacancies decreasing, the over-55s are finding it increasingly difficult to find work, says the report. In 2011, just under 2% of the 647,000 vacancies filled were taken by over-55s. That is 5% fewer than a year earlier. Despite being encouraged to set up a policy for older workers, most companies still prefer to employ youngsters, says the UWV. In 2011, 37% of the available vacancies went to people younger than 25. © DutchNews.nl
encouraging, making staff available, blah, blah, blah. the only thing that works regarding age or any other type discrimination is regulation and fines if the rules are not followed - consequences. this is especially true here in the Netherlands. By Bill | March 6, 2012 2:03 PM I've heard the UWV still make some effort for the >=50 long unemployed. If the work seeker is under trained the UWV will pay the salary for the first 3 months. The thing is it is almost impossible to find this out from werk.nl. They give so little information out to people By werkloos | March 6, 2012 3:49 PM If you want to increase the employment rate for the +55 bracket the government needs enforceable laws against age discrimination. With that, they need to create tax incentives making it financially attractive for companies to hire +55ers. Creating programs to help the +55ers is a waste of our tax money. The focus should be on the corporate sector -- you don't have to be genius to figure this out. By Quince | March 6, 2012 4:19 PM NL is getting more and more like the US day by day. This is not a good thing. By Petunia McIntyre | March 6, 2012 5:41 PM The thing is to try not to lose your job if you are over 55, as you many not be offered another one. With retirement age being increased to age 67, I wonder how many of us will actually be in a job up to that age. By Ester | March 6, 2012 7:01 PM Age discrimination is rife in the Netherlands. All job application forms (even from local government) have d.o.b. as obligatory! What has a person's date of birth got to do with anything? It is enshrined in European law but it usually takes the Dutch 10-20 years to implement such things; it took that long for them to ban discrimination against women in the work place. By Vicky | March 6, 2012 9:50 PM I'm 55 and I am having the same problem here in the US. I KNOW the reason I'm being ignored is age discrimination. But it's nearly impossible to prove it. We have no recourse. I'm forced to work a part-time, temporary job that pays what I made in ... 1980. It's not good. I am not surviving. Good luck with that, NL. It's not working here, either. By The Cat Lady | March 6, 2012 11:18 PM Wow, a long wait of years of unemployment until retirement age. Time we set up company as 'cooperatives' and put a stop to this nonsense. What a waste of experience. By Highlander | March 7, 2012 8:10 AM I presume that the extra 150 staff will all be over 55? By theo orval | March 7, 2012 9:05 AM Honey works better than vinegar. The dutch listen only to their wallets - start to give tax/social security breaks for taking older workers (as they do for taking disabled workers) and the problem might fix itself. Discrimination in job advertisements however is easily monitored and easy to punish, if they have just a few people to staff a project... heck, why not employ some over 55s to do it? By osita | March 7, 2012 10:50 AM So, only 12,940 made it past the post. Of the 150 UWV extra staff being made available, I wonder how many will be, 'over 55's'. Its incredibly sad, all that valuable, experience down the drain. The truth is, anyone over 45yrs old is out too, we are in for a rough ride, the times they are a changin. By Highlander | March 7, 2012 6:39 PM Is 37% of the workforce under 25? If not, this report is even more disturbing. I agree with Bill about regulation/enforcement. Consider "proportional representation" minimums in the workforce, i.e. if 10% of workers are 55 and older, 10% of the employees in a company should be 55 and older and so forth. By Seraphina | March 7, 2012 9:11 PM Where I worked before my employer tacitly used the reason that above 40ers cost more for pension. Of course this is not the reason which was given to the would be applicant but was clearly a selectorial criterion for NOT hiring them. Why are employers not taking into account that older employees bring a wealth of knowledge and in many cases have a better work ethic than under 25er because (i) they've been doing it for decades already and (ii) if they are looking for work they've probably make more of an effort to make it actually work.... By Michael K | March 8, 2012 6:08 AM
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How do you encourage employers to hire 55+ers by focusing on the employEE? Teach them how to dye their hair? Fund botox?
Perhaps a campaign that confronts the employER's stereotypes and fear of working with people who remind them of their parents?
By CW | March 6, 2012 8:35 AM