Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Chair, I thank Chairman Scott for yielding to me, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 1230, the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act.

This month, House Democrats are taking historic action to fight for our older Americans across the country. As cofounder and co-chair of the Democratic Caucus Task Force on Aging and Families, I am proud to announce that our Older Americans Bill of Rights, which we will introduce in the coming weeks, already has over 100 cosponsors.

That resolution reflects a covenant with senior citizens and urges the Congress to uphold the dignity of older Americans and their families.

Through that resolution, House Democrats are affirming that seniors have the right to live with dignity and with independence, including the right to high-quality healthcare, the right to age in place, and the right to financial security, including protecting against age discrimination in the workplace.

The bill that we are voting on today signals that we are taking those rights so seriously that we are not just making statements about it, but we are taking bold action. The bill before us ensures that senior citizens who have been victims of age discrimination can have their claims adjudicated fairly without having to jump through all kinds of arbitrary hoops created by a misguided court decision.

Protecting older workers is about more than just adjudicating claims of discrimination. It is about ensuring older workers have the dignity that they deserve.

Mr. Chair, I urge all of my colleagues to support this measure.

Ms. FOXX of North Carolina. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, older workers are doing quite well in today's modern economy. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS, employment for workers age 65 and older tripled from 1988 to 2018, while employment for younger workers grew by a third. The number of employed people age 75 and older nearly quadrupled from 461,000 in 1988 to 1.8 million in 2018.

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle paint a bleak picture of these valued workers standing in the workforce, when, in fact, employment trends for older workers are positive in recent decades.

According to BLS, in 1998, the median weekly earnings of older full- time employees was 77 percent of the median for workers age 16 and up. In 2018, older workers earned 7 percent more than the median for all workers.

The labor force participation rate for older workers has been rising steadily since the late 1990s. Participation rates for younger age groups either declined or flattened over this period.

Over the past 20 years, the number of older workers on full-time work schedules grew 2\1/2\ times faster than the number working part time.

As I said, the picture is bright.

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