Age discrimination in hiring decisions : a comparison of Germany and Norway

Abstract

The workforce in all industrialized countries is aging. To forecast future challenges, it is important to understand the impact of a worker’s age on the labor market. In this paper, we analyze whether older workers in Germany and Norway are treated differently in the hiring process. Students and personnel managers from both countries answered a questionnaire regarding the evaluation of three different applicants with varying age specifications and the respective hiring decisions. The investigation clearly shows that in Germany older applicants have a much lower hiring probability. In Norway, age does play a smaller role in hiring decisions.