We returned to SSB 102 after a great night at Casa de Manana, and I was heartened to hear my peers’ reactions and feelings about the night were mostly similar to my own. It definitely was a great experience, and I’m excited to see what future events we’ll have in terms of social events with our HAPs and whatnot. Today’s current event presentations included one about a senior job fair in Austin, Texas. It was aimed at reducing the unemployment rate in a group that is most likely to be discriminated against on the basis of age in the job market. This is well illustrated in Austin, where the overall unemployment rate is a low 2.9% while the unemployment rate for workers 65+ is a drastically larger 12.2%. The article talked about how younger professionals are preferred by employees because older employees are seen as “technologically inept”. The job fair featured 35 employees in total, many of them in the process of expanding and hiring. I thought the foundation of this event is great - it not only provides a physical hub for those seeking jobs, but in a way, I feel like it legitimizes efforts to reduce anti-aging in the job hiring market. Of course, this one event is akin to removing a grain of sand from a beach; it will take much, much more to permanently make our job market more age-equitable and for our society to truly value our seniors as great resources of knowledge, talent, and skill. This article reminded me of when I was talking to my dad about his career in mechanical engineering. He said that younger workers were also seen as more pliable, in which they were seen as less stubborn and more easily bent to superiors’ wills (e.g. to work longer hours without equitable compensation, to accept decisions readily without debate, to not argue for better wages and/or benefits) in addition to being better educated. It made me sad to hear it back then, and it still does. I don’t think I myself have fully worked through my productivity-centered view of the world (I still catch myself feeling disappointed if I think I am not “doing enough”), but to imagine living in that mindset my entire life and only to be devalued with every rising moon and setting sun - I could imagine how this societally-structured expiration timer on your perceived ability and professional stature could upset and even permanently harm one’s mental wellbeing. It’s not a future I would like to live through, and it requires a change of my own mindset and that of society’s as well.
|
Andrew NguyenWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2019
Categories |