The Impact of Manager's Age on the Hiring Chances of Older Applicants

Many of the workers who become unemployed at a later age experience more difficulties in acquiring a new job. Younger applicants are more often favored, irrespective of the experience that older workers might bring into companies. As most studies focus on age differences in workers and applicants, this thesis aims to reveal the impact of the age of the managers on the hiring chances of the older job applicants. The relevance of this approach is that managers of different ages might have different views about older workers because of a general stereotype or their previous experiences with them. To investigate the issue, a vignette survey which is obtained from the LISS survey panel, including a sample of 668 managers, will be used. The hiring chances of both young and old applicants will be investigated, taking the age of the manager into account and controlling for additional variables. Findings of this study indicate that the age of the manager does have an effect on the hiring chances of older applicants, but this effect is small and it is not decisive when comparing this to the hiring chances of younger applicants. Experience, appearance and being recommended by somebody else are the major drivers behind the decision to hire an applicant, regardless of his or her age. In addition, providing subsidies to hire applicants above the age of 50 increases the hiring chances of older applicants significantly. This increase is at its highest when combining subsidy provision with a relaxation of the dismissal rules of employees.