Employer Attitudes towards Older Workers, 2006

To assess the employment prospects of older workers, the Center for Retirement Research hired Matthew Greenwald and Associates to conduct a survey of 400 private-sector for-profit and non-profit employers. These employers were asked about the relative productivity and cost of white-collar and rank-and-file workers age 55 and older and whether, on balance, older employees or job candidates were more or less attractive than their younger counterparts. The survey was supported by a generous grant from The Prudential Foundation. While generally encouraging, the survey results raise two important cautions. First, older rank-and-file workers, who face the greatest retirement income challenge, appear to have weaker employment prospects than older white-collar workers. Second, other surveys have shown that positive evaluations of the productivity of older workers do not necessarily translate into actual employment opportunities.