Age no bar? Job seekers in India don’t think so

NEW DELHI: Indian jobseekers feel more discriminated against than their counterparts in most other countries, with India ranking fifth among 28 countries polled in a survey on discriminations at workplace by global staffing provider Kelly Services.

The Kelly Global Workforce Index sought the views of approximately 70,000 jobseekers in 28 countries, including about 2,000 in India. Sweden, Thailand and Singapore ranked highest in the worldwide study, while Hong Kong, followed by Indonesia, were the lowest amongst the eight countries surveyed in the Asia-Pacific region.

About 64% of respondents in India said they have experienced prejudice of some type when applying for a job in the last five years. Age was the major source of prejudice, identified by 16% of the respondents in India, followed by 13% for gender, and 3% for disability. About 18% of women and 12% of men reported gender discrimination when applying for work.

In India, almost 35% of workers aged 45 or older felt they had been discriminated against on the basis of their age. While 16% of younger workers aged 25-44 years also believed that they were denied job opportunities because of their age. Age-based discrimination is, however, more prevalent across the global study with over 15% of respondents in most countries reporting such discrimination.

The exceptions include France (13%), Denmark (12%) and Sweden (11%) and of the Asia-Pacific countries, Malaysia with 14% and 7% in Indonesia.