Age Discrimination in the Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Age Discrimination in the Workplace - Essay Example In their article, Butler &Berrett (2012) argue that the American working force is progressively getting older and working for more years and the baby boomer generation is currently defying the age long tradition of working for about 30 years before going into retirement. These individuals are now preferring to continue with working well past their retirement age. According to Butler &Berrett (2012), data presented by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that there are currently over 142.6 million people in employment and that are aged 40 years and over. These individuals are seen to account for 46% of the U.S. population. In addition to this, the paper highlights the plight that is normally faced by the older generation in the workplace as a result of frequent discrimination and then goes on to propose a practical approach that potentially be used by human resource personnel and educators so as to ensure that all the various employee related decisions are seen to be handled.In their Agei sm in the workplace article that appeared in theSpring 2007 editions of the Generations Journal, Helen Dennis and Kathryn Thomas start off by affirming that ageism is currently seen to be firmly entrenched as part of the main social fabric in American life. They argue that the practice of ageism is widely pervasive as is clearly evident across some of the different sectors such as education, media, healthcare and advertising. Dennis & Thomas (2007) point out that the workplace is in essence a microcosm of society.