Ageism Is An Obstacle For Job Seekers in the UK, Kelly Services Proves
20 October 2006
Ageism is an obstacle for job seekers in the UK, Kelly Services proves
Hard on the heels of the introduction of the new anti-ageism legislation which came into force on October 1st 2006, a new international workplace survey carried out by employment agency, Kelly Services has found that 40% of job seekers in the UK believe they have been discriminated against when applying for work in the last five years.
The Kelly Global Workforce Index sought the views of approximately 70,000 people in 28 countries, including almost 6,000 UK respondents.
The survey found that:
- 31% had experienced discrimination in their day-to-day working life.
- The major source of discrimination identified by respondents was age, which was cited by 17%. This was followed by race (8%), gender (6%) and disability (2%).
- Older workers are facing the greatest challenge in dealing with age-based discrimination. More than 50% of workers aged 45 or older felt they had been discriminated against on the basis of their age. However, 16% of younger workers aged up to 24 also believed they were victims of age discrimination.
- 42% of men claim to have experienced prejudice when applying for a job, compared to 38% of women.
- Only 20% of those who felt discriminated against actually took the matter further - and most were unhappy with the outcome.
- In contrast to most other countries, those with university qualifications in the UK reported higher rates of discrimination.
- UK industries with above average levels of discrimination included Engineering, IT, Transport/Distribution, Manufacturing and Utilities.
However, the level of discrimination in the UK is low by global standards, with the UK ranked 25th on the list of 28 countries worldwide, and 14th amongst the 16 European countries in the survey. In Europe, the highest rates of workplace discrimination were in Sweden, Hungary and Italy, while UK, Denmark and Luxembourg had the lowest.
Commenting on the figures, Catherine King, Managing Director for Kelly Services, said: “In many areas, ageism has overtaken ethnicity and sexism as the greatest source of discrimination in employment. At a time when we face an ageing population and skills shortages, many companies are putting obstacles in the way of hiring older people. As well as being devastating for individuals, this has resulted in organisations shutting off an important source of talent and diversity.
“The new anti-age legislation will undoubtedly help to turn the trend toward discriminating against certain age groups, and businesses that do not address these issues directly will do themselves considerable damage. They run the risk of suffering from high staff turnover, absenteeism, poor morale, low productivity and poor reputation as well as the possibility of civil claims and penalties arising from breach of these new laws. We hope to conduct another survey in a year’s time and find that the problem has significantly decreased.”
Notes to editors
Kelly Services is one of the top UK employment agencies. With over 100 locations nationwide, Kelly Services places 10,000 people in permanent work every year and up to 21,000 people in temporary placements every week. Kelly Services recruits for a wide range of jobs within a broad range of specialist industries. As well as recruiting from local branches, Kelly Services also provides on-site human resources management to clients ranging from small local businesses to blue chip multi-nationals.
Kelly Services is part of Kelly Services, Inc. with its headquarters in Troy, Michigan, United States. Kelly Services, Inc is a global employment agency with over 2000 branches throughout the UK, Europe, Asia, America and Australasia.
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Media Information:
Yvette Worth or Charlotte Coad Tel: 01376 563156
Quay West Communications Fax: 01376 562651
Email: y.worth@quay-west.co.uk / c.coad@quay-west.co.uk