Jobseekers aged 45-64 are almost twice as likely to experience discrimination than their younger counterparts, a major new survey published today suggests.
Ethnic minorities also face a major obstacle to employment with black jobseekers more than four times as likely to be discriminated against than their white counterparts.
The ESRI research, based on data collected from 16,800 adults in 2010, found that one in eight had reported being discriminated against in different ways in the previous two years.
The highest rates of discrimination were reported in recruitment (6 per cent) and in the workplace (5 per cent).
The lowest rates were for education (1 per cent) and transport services (0.4 per cent).
The overall rate of discrimination had not changed significantly since a previous survey in 2004 but the proportion of people who said it had a serious impact on their lives rose from 25 per cent to 32 per cent.
The one area which saw a notable drop in discrimination was using banks or obtaining insurance. The proportion of people who reported discrimination in this category fell from 3.7 per cent to 2.5 per cent, a trend the authors largely put down to a fall in transactions from the economic slowdown.
Women were found be “somewhat more likely” to experience discrimination at work than men but the reverse applied in recruitment.
The report added: “the 45-64 age group is more at risk of discrimination when looking for work, with a raw rate [of discrimination] of 8.1 per cent. This group is 1.7 times more likely to experience discrimination than the reference category of age 25-44, even after controlling for other factors.
“Previous research has shown that older workers are less likely than younger workers to lose their jobs, but they take longer to find work when they become unemployed, especially in a recession.”
It added that older jobseekers were “more likely to report that this work-related discrimination has a serious impact on their lives” than younger people. The situation was worse for those of black ethnicity with a “raw risk” of discrimination of 23 per cent both at work and in recruitment. People of Asian ethnicity fared better than this with a risk of discrimination in the jobs market of 9 per cent, while other ethnicities faced a risk of 18 per cent. This compared to a risk rate of 5 per cent for those of white ethnicity.
ESRI senior research officer Frances McGinnity said employers should be aware “discrimination itself is not cheap”. Hiring someone because they were perceived to be better on grounds of age or skin colour carried a cost, as did turning away customers with the “wrong” characteristics.
The survey also shows that those categories most likely to be discriminated against are least likely to know their rights, or to know how to take action against discrimination.
One such risk group was people with a disability, who reported higher levels of discrimination in services such as shops/pubs, health and transport.
The report, Analysing the Experience of Discrimination in Ireland, can be read at esri.ie, and is published in conjunction with the Equality Authority.
