The ADEA amendment and public support for older workers.

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine Americans' beliefs about older adults at work before and after the amendment of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) in 1978. Two models are considered for understanding the relationship between age strata and public support for older workers: the group benefit model and the civil liberty model. The analysis gives general support to the civil liberty model: (1) age differences are related to the beliefs so that more recent cohorts are more likely than earlier ones to favor the work privileges and opportunities for older people and (2) Americans in general grew more favorable toward and concerned about older workers during the period surrounding the passage of the ADEA Amendment in 1978. Women were more likely than were men to support the privileges of older people to work regardless of age or competition for jobs by younger people.