Everything about this chapter was interesting to me from the retirement to the leisure time, but I enjoyed knowing about the leisure time more. This chapter of work and leisure first goes into the concept of retirement, then to age discrimination in employment, adjustment to retirement, work and leisure values, and expanding work and leisure opportunities.
The thing that caught my eye in this chapter was the age discrimination in employment. According to Hillier and Barrow the 1967 Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits the following: failing to hire a worker between age 40 and 70 because of age, discharging a person because of age, discrimination in pay or other benefits because of age, limiting or classifying an employee according to hes or her age, instructing an employment agency not to refer a person to a job because of age, or to refer that person only to certain kinds of jobs, and placing any ad that shows preference based on age or specifies an age bracket. The exceptions as the federal government, employers of less than 20 persons, or jobs where youth is a "bonafide occupational qualification," such as modeling teenage clothes (p. 209). Hillier and Barrow also state, "Age discrimination in the labor market makes finding work more difficult, however, because older workers have more difficulty finding jobs, changing fields is even more difficult... More than half of all workers aged 50 to 64 would continue working if their employer were willing to retrain them for a new job, continue making pension contributions after age 65, or to transfer them to a job with less responsibility, fewer hours, and less pay as a transition of full retirement" (p. 210) I think if employers worked and reasoned with them, the older generation would be willing to work with the employers and how the employers want things running in the company. And once their full retirement came along and they know that they worked for it, they could enjoy their leisure time more.
Hillier, S.,& Barrow, G. (2011). Aging, the individual, and society. (9th ed., pp. 199-225). California: WADSWORTH
The discrimination in the work place is a horrible thing. This happened to my grandmother when she turned 60. Shortly after her birthday they no longer needed her position. Everyone knew it was because of her age, but there was no way to prove it. This kind of thing disgusts me because that job was her livelihood. She was fortunate to be able to get another job, but that is not true for some elderly. Some elderly that lose their jobs are never able to find another well-paying job because of their age. There are too many young, well educated people for those spots that companies would rather hire. This needs to change, and I believe that it can with some advocacy for this population.
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