Work After 50

More than three-quarters of older workers experience ageism in the workplace, yet changing demographics and tight labor markets make this employee base increasingly critical to American businesses. We examine the obstacles faced by older workers and how some companies are trying to connect with them. If longer careers truly are our future, then American business will need to overcome its aversion to older workers. Our demographic course is already set: Due to increased longevity and declines in birth rate, older workers will become essential to the economy in the coming years. Yet according to AARP, 78% of workers 50+ saw or experienced ageism in 2020 and countless more didn’t even get that first interview. In this episode of Century Lives: The 60-Year Career, we examine how this undervalued segment of the workforce will be a key building block of the economy of the future and highlight innovative company-based solutions to embrace them. Guests are: Ashton Applewhite, activist and author of This Chair Rocks, A Manifesto Against Ageism; Lena Barkley, Operations Manager of Workforce Initiatives at CVS Health; Ronald Lee, Professor of the Graduate School in Demography and Economics at University of California Berkeley; Barbara Spitzer, Managing Director at Accenture; and Elizabeth White, aging solutions advocate and author of 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal.