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143). The Results Showed That Younger People Appreciated Older People's ...

143). The results showed that younger people appreciated older people's experience, but found it easier to communicate and socialize with people of their own age. Negative stereotypes of older people could have an effect on younger people, who felt pressured not to waste time and to make a career quickly, before it was too late. Mentoring, team working in cross-age groups, and social activities outside the workplace were mentioned as examples of practical measures for the encouragement of intergenerational co-operation (Johansson, 2003, p. 143).

Research shows that older workers are at a disadvantage on account of their age in the European labour market (Arrowsmith and McGoldrick, 1996) (Taylor and Walker, 1996, pp. 159-186). According to the researchers, with the increase of unemployment, older people have been expected to make way for younger people and have been persuaded or forced into early retirement. The early exit policy also had consequences for those older workers who remained in the labour market. Workers were considered too old at increasingly lower ages by employers and sometimes also by themselves. The existence of age barriers in recruitment is confirmed by a study of job advertisements in Sweden and Germany (Johansson, 1997). The results showed that, when age requirements were used, 25-35 was the most frequently mentioned age bracket in the two countries, whereas ages over 40 were rare.

Although age barriers are particularly visible and obvious in job recruitment and early retirement, they exist in other situations as well. According to the results of an interview study with middle-aged people in Sweden (Johansson, 1997) age was perceived to be of significance in recruitment, early retirement, training, development, promotion, demotion, change of branch and profession, work abroad, and financial rewards.

Phrases and statements that older people were also supposed to be slow learners and less motivated to learn than younger people were repeated frequently, as well as the proverb You can't teach an old dog new tricks (Johansson, 2003, p. 144). A British young man summarised some stereotypes and prejudices against older people by stating the following People would say they are dinosaurs, They don't have a clue what is going on, They are old and stick in the mud, They just stick there, They won't change, They won't do anything, (Johansson, 2003, p. 144). Other examples of prejudices were the perceptions that older people were waiting for their retirement and therefore not interested in hard work, were not committed to their jobs, they just sat there, nothing happened and they were difficult to co-operate with. A British woman said, people tend to think that an older person in a job is quite happy just to toddle on and do that job which he has done for many years and maybe not develop things as much as a younger person would do (Johansson, 2003, p. 145).

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