NEVER GET OLD A HISTORY FRAMEWORK: HOW AGE FACTORS, WASTED RESOURCES AND EXCLUSIONARY SCRIPTS COEXIST
Abstract
Cognitive capabilities and expertise vis-à-vis private-public industry, governmental policies and academia interact with age factor complexities in the long term, leading to wasted resources via exclusionary provisions within labor markets. This article examines published results and work-based practices evidencing workplace trends where advantages and disadvantages merge into a historical normalcy and a new market fit. Clearly, the highly competitive and ever-changing workplace is not exceptionally accommodating to older employees. An exclusionary script evolves around the workplace worldwide as the age factor limits employment options for the 65–75+, consequently generating wasted resources later in life. Ordinarily, old age falls outside standard economic employment normalcy, thus yielding circumscribed feedback to older jobseekers regardless of experience, skills or thematic interest. Considering the current worldwide high educational level of young entrants in the labor market, that cyclical scenario is not likely to transform. That cyclical transformation will accelerate with the advancement of AI, as it involves all age groups with overwhelming results on employment trends for the immediate future worldwide. From an educational perspective, young children are selectively educated to enter a significantly specialized labor force early in life. In the long term, the aging employee with limited lifetime employment opportunities and savings or low economic resources falls into an inescapable downward financial future. Alternatively, for successful business owners in agriculture, construction, maintenance, service and most micro-macro-enterprise businesses, success patterns, and family businesses, retirement and age factors are inconsequential. Successful family macro-enterprise businesses have a long history of going public as products, equity and holdings convert into stock market shares and/or cash portfolios, leading to inheritance trusts conceivably passed on for generations. Therefore, ageless choices coexist following an independent model based on a well-grounded business continuum. Age, retirement and employment primarily impact payroll employees. On the other hand, the high supply and low demand for PhDs in private-public industry and academia generates an age factor atmosphere as protectionism and discrimination conceive a dynamic labor market metric.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v12i4.2242
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