Forty Year Olds Avoid Discrimination Against Age

Valencia, California -- As a large group of people enter their forties, more and more of them take measures to avoid workforce age discrimination.  Being viewed as old in the workforce is being perceived as a liability.  With today’s rate of unemployment holding on to a current job is a higher priority that it was in the past.  While some measures are proving to be successful others become excessive, costly, and consequential.

"The slow economic recovery and the stubborn high unemployment rate we have right now only make age discrimination even more pronounced," says Jing Quan, an associate professor at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Md. (Harbart, 2011).  Edwin Darden of the American School Board Journal is even more direct by saying, “Wrinkles are called laugh lines. Creases around the eyes are labeled crows’ feet. Varicose veins are known euphemistically as 'spider veins'...We go to great lengths to avoid even the impression of being old, perhaps with good reason. In a society that prefers youth, there is a fear of being replaced." (Darden, 2009).

Dying their hair was once enough to buy a few more years before the workforce worried about age discrimination.  The competition is so fierce today that people in their forties are even resorting to plastic surgery to avoid age prejudice.  This has not always proven to be the wisest choice.  With reports of bad outcomes and retirement accounts being depleted, many forty year olds are wishing they had gone with more conservative measures.

Hair coloring and an anti-wrinkle cream that works are now a staple on monthly shopping lists.  These products along with regular exercise, balanced diet and a solid eight hours of sleep are proving to be the secret weapons in the raging war against workforce age discrimination.

Darden, E. (2009). The Wrinkles of ADEA. American School Board Journal, 196(12), 38-39

Harbert, T. (2011). IT’s Age Problem. Computerworld, 45(21), 18-24