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NABBW Columnist - The New Retirement
| Name: | Jan Cullinane |
| Title: | Author, Entreprenuer, Retirement Expert |
| Expertise: | The New Retirement |
| Web Site: |
http://www.thenewretirement.net |
| Email: | jancullinane@gmail.com |
| Bio: |  Jan Cullinane and Cathy Fitzgerald are the authors of The New Retirement: The Ultimate Guide to the Rest of Your Life (Rodale). Their book has been widely acclaimed and reached the number two ranking on both Barnes&Noble.com and Amazon.com. The Chicago Tribune, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal have given the book outstanding reviews. Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist (?Color of Money?) for The Washington Post, chose The New Retirement for her March 2005 book club selection.
Jan has appeared on TV both nationally and locally, has conducted more than 40 radio, Internet, and television interviews, and has published articles for newspapers and magazines including The Suburban Press, Indianapolis Prime Times, and Living Southern Style magazine. Jan has been consulted by a number of free-lancers writing articles about retirement for newspapers and magazines as well. Through the company they formed, Retirement Living from A to Z, Jan and Cathy conduct retirement seminars and have traveled extensively investigating places to retire and talking to prospective retirees and those who have taken the plunge. Their six years of research and travel culminated in the only guide you'll need for a successful, happy retirement. Jan has a B.S. and M.Ed. in Science Education from the University of Maryland, and has taught extensively at the high school and college level. She presently lives in Cincinnati with her husband, has three children, and thinks the word "retirement" itself should be retired. She can also speak backwards fluently! |
Is There Ageism in the Workforce?
By Jan Cullinane
Does age discrimination exist? Not legally. The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), passed in 1967 states, "It shall be unlawful for an employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's age."
There can be a gap between legality and reality, however. During 2006, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received 13,569 charges of age discrimination. The average job search was 16 weeks for people under 55 years old, but 22 weeks for those over 55. Texas A&M Economics professor Joanna Lahey found that companies were more than 40 percent more likely to interview a younger job seeker rather than an older job seeker.
Some employers feel that older workers are more set in their ways, have less energy and more health problems, aren't as technologically savvy, require higher salaries, and won't work as hard or long as younger workers. Historically, the implicit agreement was that an employee would stay with one company throughout his or her work career, starting out at lower wages, but progressing to higher wages as he or she became older. This paradigm is no longer true. With people routinely changing jobs every several years, and younger workers wanting higher wages and more responsibility when they come on board, the old way is no longer the model.
Most experts are upbeat about the future of mature workers, however. With baby boomers (more than 76 million) retiring from primary careers, and fewer younger workers (48 million Gen Xers) to replace them, labor shortages will force companies to retain, retrain (if necessary), and value the older employee. For many employers, the bottom line will be whether an employee meets their company's needs; the experience, work ethic, and maturity of Boomers will become valuable commodities. (To file an age-discrimination complaint with the EEOC at either the state or federal level, call 800-669-4000).
Visit Jan at
http://www.thenewretirement.net
Jan Cullinane is the co-author of The New Retirement: The Ultimate Guide to the Rest of Your Life (Rodale, 2007). She gives seminars on the (primarily) non-financial aspects of retirement through her company, "Retirement Living from A to Z."