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  3. By the year 2000 nearly half the workforce will be over 40 and yet throughout Europe there is a deep ambivalence—if not outfight

By the year 2000 nearly half the workforce will be over 40 and yet throughout Europe there is a deep ambivalence—if not outfight

admin2010-07-19  44
问题    By the year 2000 nearly half the workforce will be over 40 and yet throughout Europe there is a deep ambivalence—if not outfight suspicion—towards the capabilities of older workers.
   Those over the age of 40 generally take longer to find new employment, but European governments have done little to protect their employment fights. Only Germany, with incentives to business to encourage the employment of older people, and France, with the introduction of legislation making it illegal to use age barriers in recruitment—or to make employees redundant because of their age have done anything substantive to combat age discrimination.
   Yet even in these two countries, there has been no noticeable improvement in the lot of the older worker; indeed in France job advertisements flout the law openly by asking for applicants of a certain age. So, should France and Germany be tightening up their laws and should the rest of Europe follow suit?
   Bill Robbins, a career’s consultant with outplacement specialist DBM, believes not. He said: "Legislation against age discrimination has been in existence for well over ten years in the US and Canada, but has had no effect per se. Employers will always be able to find some reason for turning down an older applicant without appearing to break the law. Age laws merely act as a symbol of a commitment to change societal attitudes, and it is these that must be changed if we are to make progress."
   Ironically, it was governments which played a leading role in hardening business culture against older workers in the first place. In the late 1970s many European countries were extremely concerned about the levels of youth unemployment, and France, Germany and Belgium even initiated incentive schemes for business to encourage older employees to take early retirement provided that younger trainees were taken on in their place. As more and more employees took early retirement, often willingly, a new, youth-oriented culture permeated business throughout most of Europe—even in those countries that had taken no active measures to promote it.
   Demographic trends mean that governments are now anxious to slow down the policy of early retirement as they realize that they simply do not have the funds to meet their pension promises. But reversing business attitudes is no easy matter. Dianah Worman, a policy adviser for the Institute of Personnel and Development, said: "There is a widely held belief that older people are less adaptable and trainable." This is just not true: "research has shown that differences in capability are as wide within age groups as they are between them".
   So what can older job-seekers do? On a practical level it is often recommended that applicants either omit their age from a CV or leave it to the end, to ensure that at least it gets read. Yet Tony Milne, an independent career’s consultant, believes that the way forward is for older people themselves to adopt a positive attitude to their age when applying for work. "You can’t expect someone else to give you a job if you think you might be too old for it. Many older applicants are extremely aggressive or defensive about their age in interviews. They are immediately labeled by potential employers as difficult characters who would have problems fitting into a new organization and it is for these reasons rather than their age that they are rejected. If older workers can learn to become relaxed and confident about their age, then I am sure that a change in business attitudes will follow. "(words)
France, US and Canada have all taken which of the following steps to discourage age discrimination?
选项 A、encourage business to employ older people by offering rewards
B、make age discrimination in respect of employment illegal
C、refuse to employ younger workers
D、enforce age discrimination laws strictly
答案D
解析 第二段的第二句及第四段的第二句分别提到在法国、美国和加拿大通过立法来反对歧视。
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