Jobless? No need to apply

Sounds counterintuitive: Job ads specifically excluding the unemployed from consideration. With national jobless rates rising to 9.1 percent last month - or 16 percent if you count the underemployed - a policy like that doesn't do the economy any favors, let alone people who need work. Yet it seems to be proliferating among both large (Sony) and small (restaurants and sales reps) employers.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than six million Americans who want to work have gone without it for at least six months. Four million, or 40 percent of the unemployed, have been looking for more than a year - the highest percentage since World War II. While the recession is officially over, the economy's stagnation is predicted to last two more years.

Against such a backdrop, local and national media report more ads, especially online, blatantly telling job seekers without a current paycheck not to bother. This hurts older workers disproportionately. AARP reports that capable 60-plus workers generally have a tougher time finding a job after a layoff than do younger workers. This is true despite their experience, maturity and willingness to work for lower salaries than they've earned in the past. Some professionals take minimum wage jobs just so they can apply for better jobs.

Why do some companies do this? The assumption is that those who work hard enough, have the best skills and a good attitude aren't the ones let go. Ergo, those aren't who employers want to hire. The obvious problem is that this stigma isn't necessarily well-founded. Workers lose jobs for reasons too numerous to count, including those not in their control.

Two states have taken exception. A New Jersey law effective this month fines employers who discriminate against the jobless in want ads. New York is considering a law prohibiting similar discrimination in hiring.

Federal discrimination laws protect against race/ethnicity, age, and other categorical hiring practices, but not the unemployed as a separate class. I doubt the thought even occurred to past congresses, nor to most of us. That may change, given unemployment statistics and the flurry of complaints the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported earlier this year.

Discrimination is a form of delusion, rooted in prejudgment. In an at-will state like ours, workers are more easily let go if they don't perform, so why not give everyone the same chance?

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Email [email protected]