Study finds bias against older people in Israeli hiring practices

Tel Aviv [Israel]: Israel’s Ministry of the Negev, the Galilee and National Resilience, which handles matters concerning senior citizens in the State of Israel, commissioned a study that found most Israeli employers are biased against hiring older people for jobs.

The study was carried out by the Myers-Joint-Brookdale Institute and examined the attitudes of employers regarding the employment of older workers in Israel, who comprise about 7 per cent of the entire workforce.

This is against the background of lengthening life expectancy, life after retirement age, the desire to encourage the employment of adults and the removal of the age of dependency.

About 83 per cent of the employers who responded to the survey claimed that older workers stick to familiar work methods and 72 per cent claimed that older workers have difficulty learning new work methods.

Managing older workers is more challenging due to cultural norms that make it difficult for a young person to give instructions to older people and require them to perform tasks. Moreover, employers perceive an employee as an adult already at the age of 61.5, that is, 5.5 years before the mandatory retirement age (which is currently 67 for men), and about half of the employers believe that an elderly employee is a person whose age ranges between 50 and 60.

The tenure status and the retirement age law contribute to the negative inclusive perceptions, and to a certain extent even to the reduction of the employment of adults.

Therefore, the finding according to which more than 55 per cent of the employers who responded to the survey support the repeal of the retirement age law or the raising of the age defined in the law, is particularly important.