Tech workers get better with age — but that's not stopping 'systemic' discrimination

https://www.businessinsider.com/systemic-age-discrimination-even-as-tech-workers-get-better-with-age-2017-10

Wolf Richter, Wolf Street
Oct. 2, 2017, 6:44 PM

Many people have seen this with their own eyes as it happened to others, or have experienced it themselves even as companies have vigorously denied it. So finally, here are some numbers that expose blatant age discrimination in the Tech industry, both in hiring and promotions, and it's even worse than the age discrimination in Non-Tech industries.

The study boils down to this: if you're a Baby Boomer, forget it. And if you're Gen X, it's tough.

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Here is what the study by Visier, which provides workforce analytics for HR professionals, found: "Systemic ageism is occurring in Tech hiring practices."
Here are some nuggets:

Millennials (aged 20 to 33) make up 43% of the workforce in Tech, compared to 26% in Non-Tech.
Gen X workers (aged 34 to 51) make up 45% of the Tech workforce, compared to 47% for non-Tech.
Baby Boomers (aged 52 to 70) make up less than 12% of the Tech workforce, compared to 27% in Non-Tech.
Non-manager workers in Tech are on average 38 years old and thus five years younger than Non-Tech workers (43 years old).
Managers in Tech are on average 42 years old, vs. 47 in Non-Tech - not that managers in Non-Tech industries don't face age discrimination, it's just not as brazen.

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But the study also found that "both Tech and Non-Tech focus their hiring on younger workers compared to the existing workforce, while a smaller proportion of older workers is hired, compared to the proportion in the existing workforce."

This indicates that age bias occurs "at some level across all industries." And this is even worse than if it happened just in Tech, because it shows just how systemic ageism is in Corporate America.

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