Working longer? That is assuming the opportunity exists. Calls to push back the minimum retirement age in France have multiplied in response to demographic shifts and the need to
maintain the financial sustainability of its redistributive pension system. While successive reforms have increased the employment rate among people aged 55 to 64, they have fallen far
short of guaranteeing that workers can stay employed until the legal retirement age.
Many older workers have faced a troubling paradox: While they are required to retire later and later, those over 50 continue to face hiring discrimination and often struggle to stay in
the workforce long enough to qualify for a full pension.
The aging of the French population should prompt a rethinking of the role of older workers within companies. Beyond managing end-of-career transitions and addressing physically
demanding work, there is also the challenge of supporting workers who have left the labor market late in their careers and must confront employers' reluctance to recruit them over
younger candidates.
Persistent stereotypes
After being laid off or facing an unsuccessful career change, such as starting a business, workers over 50 often hit a recruitment wall, based solely on their age. This phenomenon
discourages career mobility but, above all, exposes job seekers to long-term precariousness. Too young to retire but considered too old to hire, many are forced into unemployment or
even onto social welfare programs.
As shown in the "Landoy Barometer of an Aging France," conducted with Ifop and published in November 2024, employment of older workers remains subject to persistent stereotypes.
They are seen as resistant to change, less adaptable to digital tools, more easily fatigued, and, according to employers, too expensive. In short, these clichés are deeply entrenched, to the
point that age is perceived by French people as the greatest source of discrimination, ahead of disability or nationality.
