Ageism in the workplace: A communication perspective.

TLDR: McCann et al. as mentioned in this paper examined changes in the workplace and found that the paucity of skilled people in America's workforce is already a problem for management, and 75 percent of employers interviewed stated that filling jobs for skilled workers was an ongoing problem, and as the baby boom generation moves into the 50 and 60-year old age brackets, it is likely that there will be a disproportionate number of younger workers to fill the jobs that these baby boomers vacate.

Abstract: creasingly higher, the resultant “aging world” will undeniably affect all of us. It is not unrealistic, for example, to envision a world twenty years hence where “older individuals” wield considerably more political power, are more active in the workplace and in universities, and have a much greater stake in the world’s economic output. New attitudes on health care and older people’s roles in education will be forged, and questions will be raised about the fairness of social security and other payments that are taken for granted today. This chapter examines one of these developments: changes in the workplace. Demographic workforce projections for the new millennium paint a mixed picture for older workers. On the positive side, most economists predict future shortages of skilled younger workers (Steinhauser 1998; Walsh and Lloyd 1984), predictions that bode well for older workers who possess advanced job skills. In fact, a recent study by Hall and Mirvis (1994) suggests that the paucity of skilled people in America’s workforce is already a problem for management. In this study, 75 percent of employers interviewed stated that filling jobs for skilled workers was an ongoing problem. Moreover, as the baby boom generation moves into the 50and 60-year-old age brackets, it is likely that there will be a disproportionate number of younger workers to fill the jobs that these baby boomers vacate. This should serve as yet another positive sign for the older individuals of tomorrow who wish to work during their later years. Another school of thought on workplace trends paints a bleaker picture. Economists and academics who adhere to this line of thinking point to the imbalance between supply and demand of jobs today and question how these figures can be turned around in a matter of decades. With 1989 survey poll results showing that roughly 5.4 million older people reported being “ready and willing to work but unable to secure a job” (Louis Harris 6 Ageism in the Workplace: A Communication Perspective Robert McCann and Howard Giles