In September 2011, there were almost 6.0 million people, or a third (33%) of all Australians aged 15 years and over not in the labour force, according to a recent report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. In a promising sign for the economy, the number of “discouraged job seekers” in Australia, those who aren’t actively looking for work because they don’t believe they can find a job, has fallen significantly for the second straight year.
But it’s a sad reflection on our society’s acceptance of workplace discrimination that the most common reason for not looking for work reported by discouraged job seekers aged 55+ was that they were “considered too old by employers” (62 per cent). This is despite the facts that discrimination on the grounds of age is illegal in Australia and that studies have found older workers tend to be more stable, productive and take fewer sick days than younger employees. As a group, they tend to be more motivated by drivers such as flexible working hours than by high salaries, all of which is good news for employers.
In addition, the ABS reported that people aged 45-54 years most commonly reported that they had given up looking for work because they had “difficulties due to language or ethnic background” (23%). To me, that spells “discrimination”, regardless of its packaging. Stop and think about those statistics for a moment – they make big statements! 23 percent – almost one in 4 people aged between 45-54 years – who gave up looking for work last year did so because of language or ethnicity issues. And 6 out of 10 people aged 55 or over were considered too old by employers.
Even allowing for a degree of miscommunication on the part of employers as the reason an applicant didn’t win a job, and subjectivity on the part of job seekers about the same issue, the statistics above are simply too big to ignore. They make it clear that discrimination does exist in the Australian workplace. In fact, a recent survey found that job applicants from CALD backgrounds have more success in obtaining interviews when they apply for jobs under a westernised version of their name – even those well-qualified, experienced and permanently resident in Australia. I don’t see how that could be considered anything but discrimination of the most direct and blatant type.
So what can we do to end this workplace discrimination?
From the business perspective, employers could recognise it makes good business sense to encourage a culture of diversity in the workplace. Creativity and productivity increase when people from diverse cultures and with different approaches work together to solve common problems. International language skills are of benefit to businesses operating in today’s global economy, and innovative new processes can result when people from diverse backgrounds work together synergistically.
In addition, a diverse workforce can result in stronger customer and community loyalty. From the government perspective, more funding and programs could be provided to support the integration of migrants and their families into all areas of Australian life; and government could take stronger action against xenophobic employers who support a culture of workplace discrimination.
From the social policy perspective, government could also introduce real incentives to encourage employers to take on older workers, balanced by the imposition of real penalties for those who through ignorance or disdain breach our anti-discrimination legislation.
I understand that balancing limited funding against unlimited needs has always been a core allocation issue for government. But I believe that developing and implementing policy to protect the right of these groups to work is a task that should be prioritised by government and actively supported by employers – not only in the interests of natural justice, but to underpin Australia’s long term economic and fiscal viability. Sources:
- The Australian
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
