When the Conservative government announced last week it would increase the age of eligibility for Old Age Security from 65 to 67 in 2023, I was concerned.
It's not that I don't love my job, but I find more often it's not the seasoned reporter with years of experience who gets the respect in journalism. It's the 20-somethings with a social-media strategy who can write stories on their iPhone with one hand. Which of course makes me fear for my job-I still need both hands to write a story.
The idea of working to age 67 doesn't concern me. It's the what-if-I-lose-my-job-and-no-one-will-hire-me-because-I'm-too-old that has me worried. I've won almost two dozen provincial and national journalism awards, but I have no doubt those credentials won't stand a chance against a recent journalism grad with a Twitter Klout of 70 or higher. So now I ponder a future that could see me looking for work in my 60s.
I was already concerned about the changes to OAS as it pertains to my distant future, but then I read a policy brief by Nipissing University Sociology professor Dr. Ellie Berger and became worried for my immediate future.
Berger says changes to OAS combined with an aging population and recent economic uncertainty drive home the need for a national policy on ageism in the workforce.
Berger's brief, published in where else but the Population Change and Lifecourse: Strategic Knowledge Cluster, and co-written by Nipissing sociology student Douglas Hodgins, provides a summary of the current research and policies in the field of age discrimination and paid work. (Population Change and Lifecourse is made up of 40 members and 68 student members from 30 Canadian universities, 11 researchers from government agencies and seven international members, and is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.)
Keeping Canadians in the workforce longer is going to lead to ageism and discrimination against older workers, says Berger. She adds age discrimination legislation in Canada has a long way to go to be effective in the fight against ageism.
Berger says particular attention must be paid to older female employees and their battles with gendered ageism.
I've spent the last two years watching my extremely qualified partner get turned down for job after job because of his age. He has a degree in mechanical engineering, is something of a computer whiz and spent more than 30 years putting those skills to use in senior management in the automotive industry. He lost his job two years ago at age 59 as the result of a downturn in the economy that hit that industry hard. He applies for jobs every week and he gets called back and short-listed for almost every one. But inevitably, once he has an interview and his age becomes obvious, that's pretty much it. In one case, the woman who interviewed him was 26 years old.
And now his experience could be the fate the Conservative government is deciding for all of us younger than 54.
Berger says if the stress of remaining in the paid labour force for those with employment is high, it's even greater to those older workers who are unemployed and looking for work.
Berger adds ageists attitudes and stereotypes are forcing some older candidates to go to great lengths to hide their age by changing their appearance and revising their rsums.
I laughed (bitterly) when I read that because this week my partner told me he's been short-listed for yet another job. For the first time, I suggested it might be time for a bottle of Grecian Formula hair colour for men, something I've never even joked about before.
There was a time when someone with life and work experience was appreciated in the workforce. But today it's come down to your social media strategy, your Klout on Twitter and how many Facebook "friends" you manage to collect. And now for the majority of Canadians, we'll be forced to keep tweeting until we're 67-if we're lucky enough to still have a job.
To read Berger's brief in full, go to the online version of this column for the link.
Twitter: @sthomas10
