One of the oddities about the center-right consensus that we need to make public policy less generous to old people is that the purveyors of said consensus are presumably more familiar than I with the logic that makes corporate America so reluctant to hire old people.
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Older Workers
30 May 2007 04:36 pm
Comments (11)
Us old people have no reason to live; thank you Petey for pointing that out.
One likely explanation is that employers are worried about higher health insurance premiums caused by increased numbers of claims. Just another reason why a national single-payer health care system is long overdue.
One likely explanation is that employers are worried about higher health insurance premiums caused by increased numbers of claims.
I think that's too complex an explanation. Do people get asked if they're smokers in the job interview? This would be a far more effective way to lower premiums. I think the reason why older people are less likely to be hired is the HR department is usually staffed by younger people and they're more likely to hire someone around their age than someone a lot older.
perhaps it's because older workers have expectations based on having worked when workers organized to fight for improving their circumstances. i'm guessing corporations haven't much interest in rewaging THAT war now that they've finally, thanks to deregulation and the loss of unionized manufacturing jobs, recouped a half-century's worth of losses. older workers (whose pensions might have been decimated by corrupt executives) can't be relied upon to have forgotten what they've learned, that's why they don't get hired.
Re: Do people get asked if they're smokers in the job interview? This would be a far more effective way to lower premiums.
Because smoking is difficult for insurers to verify almost no group policy bothers to ask about it (ditto for drinking, seat belt use, unsafe sex practices etc.) As a result group rates are not based on who smokes and who does not. Age however is a public fact about a person and the older your work force the higher your premiums, even if they're all as healthy as horses.
I've been asked if I smoked.
I've been asked if I smoked on a workplace health questionnaire too. But it's not part of the underwriting process for group policies (I've worked in health insurance). It may be on individual policies. The accuracy of such answers is impossible to verify with groups so they are rather worthless when it comes to setting group rates. And while an insurer can terminate an individual policy if the suscriber lies when signing up, they cannot do this with a group policy (unless they terminate the entire group).
Older workers generally will demand higher pay and more respect. Younger workers generally are more desperate and will accept lower pay and worse treatment.
Also, even many older people believe that other older people are starting to suffer from the mental slippage that does occur later in life for many people.
Re: Younger workers generally are more desperate and will accept lower pay and worse treatment.
I wouldn't really say younger workers are "desperate". They simply have a different perspective. Older workers expect to make at least as much as they did at their last job, which is generally going to be a fairly hefty salary. 25 year old workers are overjoyed at a 30K salary when they were last making $7/hr working at Starbucks or Blockbuster part time in college.
Re: Younger workers generally are more desperate and will accept lower pay and worse treatment.
I wouldn't really say younger workers are "desperate". They simply have a different perspective. Older workers expect to make at least as much as they did at their last job, which is generally going to be a fairly hefty salary. 25 year old workers are overjoyed at a 30K salary when they were last making $7/hr working at Starbucks or Blockbuster part time in college.
Comments closed June 13, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
"the logic that makes corporate America so reluctant to hire old people."
They kinda smell weird.
Posted by Petey | May 30, 2007 5:01 PM