Age Discrimination: Converging Evidence from Four Australian Studies

Given that most Australian states have gone further than most U.S. states in their age discrimination legislation, it is of interest to research the types and extent of age discrimination in the recruitment and selection process in a jurisdiction that prohibits all discrimination based on age (not just against those 40 years or over). Four studies examining different parts of the process and the perspectives of different players in the system were conducted. Each study and each methodology detected converging evidence of ongoing age discrimination, from the language used in job advertisements to messages delivered by recruitment consultants to self-reports of employers to the experiences of job applicants.