AGE discrimination by employers, not a lack of skills, is the real issue affecting the prospects of older jobseekers.
The comments from the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association follow the federal government’s announcement of five trial sites for a Career Transition Assistance Program to prepare mature-aged people for work.
“While it is important that there are programs to help older workers retrain and refresh their skills, CPSA is concerned that the program will have little impact on the employment prospects of older jobseekers,” said policy co-ordinator Ellis Blaikie.
“The government must address the issue of ageism in the workplace if they want to improve outcomes for older jobseekers.
“The target should be employers, not individual jobseekers who are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to finding a job in an ageist employment market.”
The comments were echoed by Council on the Ageing chief executive Ian Yates who welcomed the trials as “one important step in mitigating the myriad barriers that prevent mature-age Australians from returning to the workforce”.
However he said “age discrimination was still rife, with more than a quarter of mature-age people experiencing age discrimination at work.
“It is correct that some older Australians will benefit from reskilling – including training in computer and information technology – and job search techniques resulting in greater chances of finding work,” he said.
“However, in many cases the prevalence and complexity of age discrimination means that skilled and technologically savvy mature-age workers will still be locked out of jobs.”
Early-intervention programs that would help older workers reskill and be ready for change, rather than waiting until they found themselves unemployed, is the suggestion of peak body National Seniors
“We know that if a person is aged 50-plus and loses their job, it will take them twice as long to find another job as someone aged under 50,” said chief advocate Ian Henschke.
“That’s why National Seniors would have liked at least some of the focus of this program to be on ensuring older workers have the opportunity to reskill before they find themselves on the job market, often through no fault of their own.
“We’re also disappointed that the program doesn’t seem to include any initiatives for mature-age entrepreneurs.”
The Career Transition Assistance Program will be trialled at Ballarat (Vic), Somerset (Qld), Central West (NSW), Adelaide South (SA) and Perth North (WA) from next July, prior to a national rollout in 2020.
It is part of the $110 million Mature Age Employment Package announced in the 2017-18 budget, which includes the expansion of the National Work Experience Program and Pathways to Work pilots.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said the trial regions had been selected because they had distinct labour market conditions.
