"Landing A Job Though You're Not Young Anymore"

6 May, 2009 - What stereotypes hamper older workers' job hunts? Results of a 2007 survey of employer perceptions by BC's Sloan Center on Aging and Work, and comments by director Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, are highlighted by Forbes' Tara Weiss

In 2007 the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College published a survey of employers' perceptions of employees in the early, middle and late parts of their careers. It found that 44% of employers said late-in-career employees were reluctant to try new technology, compared with 12.9% for early-in-career employees and 21.3% for mid-career employees; 37.7% called late-career employees burned out, compared with 32.9% for mid-career and 19.9% for early-career; and 28.1% said late-career employees were reluctant to travel for work, compared with 15.7% for early-career and 19.8% for midcareer.

Those same employers had positive perceptions too, saying that older employees were more loyal and brought much-needed skills to their jobs. "Research shows that employers have a positive perspective of older employees but have concerns and doubts at the same time," says Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, director of the Sloan Center. "The positive attributes they associate with their own employees. The negative feelings they associate with older employees they don't know."

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"Now Hiring Retired Seniors"

29 April, 2009 - Director Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes comments on the advantages older workers can bring to business for CBS Evening News »

Despite the accepted norm that senior citizens may have a more difficult time finding employment, Mark Strassmann reports that there are still ways to find a job at an older age in this recession.

Marcie Pitt-Catouphes discusses the advantage older workers bring to businesses, particularly now. "A sense of maturity and experience can make a difference, particularly when there are unexpected situations," she says.
 

"How Providing Eldercare Affects Your Job Security"

17 April, 2009 - Director Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes quoted by Emily Brandon in U.S. News & World Report
(see expcerpt below, or read the blog here »)

Employees providing eldercare say they have significantly less access to the flexible work options needed to fulfill their work and personal needs, compared to employees caring for a child under age 18 and workers not providing dependent care, according to a survey of more than 2,200 employees ages 17 to 81 by the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College. That’s because many flexible schedules were designed with the parents of young children in mind, according to Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, the study principal and head of the Sloan Center on Aging & Work. “Many of those polices were developed in the late 80s and 90s in reaction to the increase in the number of women, particularly women with young children, in the workforce.” Eldercare doesn’t always conveniently fit into the same mold.

Employees providing eldercare also perceived significantly lower job security compared to workers with children, the Sloan study found. “People who are caring for children, with the exception of people with special need kids, you can kind of anticipate over time what their needs will be at age 2 or 4 or 7. With eldercare it’s more unpredictable,” says Pitt-Catsouphes. “After eldercare begins it may plateau, but it is often the case that there are these episodes that happen with eldercare and it does become more challenging and more demanding. It is less likely that it will be easier over time.”

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"Elderly Emerge as a New Class of Workers"

23 February, 2009 - "Even when the economy is humming along, older workers who get laid off tend to spend more time unemployed," writes Clare Ansberry of the Wall Street Journal.

"In December, the average period for joblessness for workers older than 55 was 25 weeks, compared with 18.7 weeks for those under 55, according to the AARP Public Policy Institute. The physical limitations of some older workers likely account for part of the difference. But Marcie Pitt- Catsouphes, director of the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College, cites lingering stereotypes that older workers are more expensive, less productive and resistant to change.

Today's sputtering economy has flooded the labor market with a multitude of younger workers looking for jobs, which has made it even harder for older ones.

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Age Discrimination in the Current Economic Climate

Director Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes discusses challenges for older workers

6 February 2009 - As part of an invited multi-disciplinary panel for KQED's "Forum," Center Director Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes comments on historic limitations for older workers seeking jobs.

More than 100 former employees of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory say they were targeted because of their age during recent layoffs. And recent media reports say discrimination claims are rising as more people lose their jobs. But layoffs pose challenges for older workers even when they're not victims of discrimination. We talk with experts about older workers in the modern job market.

This edition of "Forum" was titled "Hard Times for Older Workers. Listen online or download an MP3 version of the radion show, hosted by Dave Iverson, here »

Commentary - Consider skilled retirees, older workers to fill work-force shortage

11 October 2008 - "Because of concerns about the large-scale retirement of baby boomers, federal human resources managers are boning up on knowledge management science, and particularly methods to transfer the tacit knowledge of older workers to younger ones," writes Frank Burns of Federal Times.com.

"Capturing that knowledge and transferring it to younger workers is difficult. But the challenge is greater: We may not be able to recruit enough young and midcareer employees to fill the void of retiring baby boomers.

"According to research compiled by the Center on Aging and Work at Boston College, between 2002 and 2012 there will be only a 1 percent increase in the labor force participation of people aged 20 to 24, a 12 percent increase in those 25 to 34, 10 percent increase among those 35 to 44, and a 10 percent decrease in those 45 to 54." read more at Federal Times.com »