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Job Market Not Easy To Enter For Older Workers

AARP Oregon

Finding a job in today's market if you are over 55 isn't easy. Changing demographics and a surge of college-educated millennials competing for jobs mean older workers need to be on their game to be considered.

According to a report released by the AARP, workers age 50 and older value stability at work more, and are 40% less likely than younger workers to change jobs even if an opportunity comes up. Joyce DeMonnin is a Spokeswoman with AARP Oregon. She says employers' discriminating against hiring older workers is a real problem.

DeMonin: "First of all, it is the law to be open to all ages; older workers are protected. But secondly, customers are inter-generational - so to be competitive today, we want to have a workforce that reflects the market."

Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries says age-discrimination makes up 13 percent of all their civil rights complaints. Most of those complaints are from workers currently on the job, but many involve the hiring process. The Labor Department estimates, by 2020, seven percent of the U.S. workforce will be age 65 or older.