Not only gender or religion – age can also be a reason for discrimination in the job. A survey shows how many people in Germany feel that they have been discriminated against in their working lives because of their age.

Poorer chances in the application process or disadvantages in promotion: According to a survey, more than one in four currently or formerly employed people over 50 have had the feeling of having been discriminated against in their working life because of their age. 

Around 28 percent said this in the survey commissioned by the career network Xing. This is available to the German Press Agency. Examples they cited included the allocation of tasks below their requirements profile, the restriction of their areas of activity or disadvantages in promotion.

For the survey, 1,000 people in Germany aged 50 and over were interviewed by the market research institute Appinio in a representative online survey at the beginning of March. 

A good quarter of those surveyed also had the feeling that they had been discriminated against or disadvantaged by a potential employer because of their age during the application process: around 28 percent answered the question with “yes” or “probably yes”. Around 72 percent had not had this feeling and answered “probably no” or “no”.

But what does discrimination mean? Enzo Weber from the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB) in Nuremberg explained that the word “discrimination” only means “distinction”. “But the way it is used in the German language, it obviously means unjustified discrimination based on some characteristic that shouldn’t actually play a role there.” Such a characteristic could also be age.

In view of the shortage of skilled workers, Weber sees fundamentally good opportunities for older employees on the job market. Because skilled workers are scarcer today than at any time since the economic miracle. This means that more and more potential is being used that was previously left behind or perhaps even intentionally pushed out. “Let us think of the early retirement policy of the 1990s at a time of mass unemployment. This is really over. “Something has already happened,” said the scientist. Nevertheless, there are still things like the “golden handshake” today, i.e. severance payments in the event of early termination of employment relationships.

The low-cost provider of green electricity and green gas, Stadtenergie GmbH, is said to have defrauded thousands of electricity and gas customers. The damage caused could be in the millions. The public prosecutor’s office has also already been informed.

The federal government has been accessing pension insurance funds for years. Billions of euros are being misused. Now the FDP is making the procedure public and calling for reforms.