A recent, much-talked-about New York Times article about middle-aged men who have been out of work for long periods and are not looking very hard for jobs (Louis Uchitelle and David Leonhardt, “Men Not Working, and Not Wanting Just Any Job”, Jul. 31) elicited the following, priceless letter to the editor (Aug. 2):
To the Editor:
The surest way to help these men (and women) is to pass anti-age job discrimination legislation.
There is nothing more repugnant than reading the phrase “but the publisher did not seem to want someone my age.”
This type of discrimination is widely accepted.
If a worker is capable of doing the job well, his age should not count against him.
If we do not address this problem soon, with increasing longevity among our citizens, we will become a nation of the underemployed, something our society can ill afford.
Bonnie Schultz
Princeton, N.J.
To which our correspondent appends the comment:
Wow. Pass some legislation outlawing discrimination against older workers? Now that’s brilliant! Why didn’t anyone do that yet? Oh, wait.
Why do they publish such a letter? Is someone at the NYT angry with Ms. Schultz and happy to put her in the worst light?
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