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Argentina: Over 40 and Jobless? Click Here
 Marcela Valente - Inter Press Service
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June 15, 2010
Buenos Aires - Tired of being sidelined in the job market because he was over 40, an Argentine computer specialist created a labour exchange for people his age and older, which in just a few months grew to nearly 6,000 people.
"We want a fair employment law, that makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of age," said Roberto Matera, 42, who created the Empleo para Mayores de 40 (Jobs for People over 40) or E+40 web site.
Matera, who has years of experience in computers, says he lost his job two years ago and began to look for work, in classifieds and on-line web sites, without success. "They told me 'no' even when all I had done was send them my curriculum vitae (CV), because I was already 40," he told IPS.
Desperate, he decided to modify the date of birth on his CV, and finally got a first interview, and then a second for the same job. "But when they selected me and I had to get the pre-employment check-up, I told the truth, and they turned me down," he said.
The company's human resources adviser told him there were no exceptions to the requisite of being under 40, even though he had already made it through the interview process, in which he was found to have the skills, aptitude and technical knowledge necessary for the job.
Because of his own personal experience, in late 2009 Matera began to create an on-line labour exchange for people over 40. "I did it from home, enlisting my friends and acquaintances. But then it just took off," he said.
The www.empleosparamayores.com.ar web site currently has 5,700 names and 76 employers offering jobs in different production and services fields. The key to attracting ads was that the job offers and requests are published for free.
Job seekers also share their experiences on the Empleos para Mayores page on the Facebook social networking site. "Rejection kills you inside, and the worst thing is that you're given the psychological tests by psychology students who treat you as if you were an idiot," Walter Alba wrote.
To which Carmen Costa responded: "At least you made it to the psychological tests. Just because I'm a woman, I can't even respond to an ad that asks for 'male' administrative staff, with experience, under 28."
The E+40 web site monitors ads published in Argentine newspapers and magazines or on-line and talks to companies, human resources departments and employment agencies, to raise awareness on the issue, Matera said.
Employers set forth different arguments to justify ageism: that it's cheaper to hire young people, that recruiters prefer them, or that it's easier and better for a company to mould young people instead of hiring someone set in their ways.
"But there are others who value experience, and who see that older people offer the advantage of already having raised their children and having more flexible schedules," said Matera, who now has five others working with him on the web site, each one from their own home.
In this South American country of 40 million people, the unemployment rate is 8.3 percent, while under-employment stands at 9.2 percent. Studies by private consultancies estimate that more than 30 percent of the jobless are over 40.
But besides those who are unsuccessfully looking for work, there are others who have given up and stopped looking and do not even figure in the statistics as unemployed.
Juan Ruffo, 54, has been looking for a job for two years. He says he's too old to find work, but far too young to retire, since retirement age for men is 65. "There aren't ads for people over 40, let alone for people over 50," he told IPS. "There's work out there, but not for me."
Ruffo worked for more than 30 years in restaurants, as a kitchen assistant or waiter. "I always found jobs through contacts in restaurants, and I moved from one job to another, but now the people I know aren't in the business anymore or are dead."
He not only put a job search request on the E+40 web site but is helping to make the labour exchange work. "We're not anti-young people; we want to work together with them," he said.
A study carried out by the governmental National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism found that 22 percent of all of the ads posted in classifieds and on-line openly discriminated against people over 40.
Only 11 percent of the 3,668 ads studied did not discriminate on any grounds. The rest, instead of referring strictly to qualifications, set limits on things like gender, age, social condition, physical appearance, marital status or nationality.
The Labour Ministry has more than 30 employment and skills and job training plans and programmes, some of which specifically target young people or the disabled, for instance. But there are no training or job-search programmes geared to people over 40.
"Labour laws protect from discrimination people who are employed , but there is no law for those of us who are looking for work," said Matera. "That means an employer can put out an ad for a blonde secretary whose measurements are 90-60-90, and it's perfectly legal."
E+40 is collecting signatures for a draft law that would make it illegal to discriminate on any grounds when hiring, and would create penalties for companies or employment agencies that set requirements beyond skills, aptitude and qualifications.
More than 42,000 signatures have already been gathered, and the initiative has the support of several legislators who have promised to study it and eventually introduce it to Congress.
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