Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Re “For the Unemployed Over 50, Fears of Never Working Again” (“The New Poor” series, front page, Sept. 20):

For seven years, I’ve worked as a career and executive coach with
private and corporate clients. From union members to entrepreneurs, from
Generation Y to baby boomers, my clients share one recurring issue:
ageism in the workplace.

What’s changed in the recession is the ages. Your article understates
the case. Today, even clients in their late 20s worry about being passed
over in favor of new graduates who can be paid less. Never working
again, at least in a job that pays middle-class wages or better and
offers benefits, terrifies many in the over-35 crowd.

As a nation, we recognize the evils of racial, ethnic and religious
discrimination. We’re less willing to acknowledge the pervasiveness, and
costs, of age discrimination.

Let’s face up to the scope of the problem, enact tough laws and develop
policies that provide a strong safety net and real opportunities for
everyone regardless of age.

Rebecca Kiki Weingarten
Brooklyn, Sept. 20, 2010

Note from KBJ: I'm confused. Are the older workers expecting to be paid more (in the form of salary or benefits) simply because they're older? If so, then it's not discrimination to prefer the young.