States with the most ageist job ads in the country (Study)

To discover the extent to which US companies use age-discriminating language in recruitment, Preply analyzed more than 21 million LinkedIn job ads for ageist terms. The analysis revealed that Texas-based companies use the most age-discriminatory words and phrases in their job ads and that the retail industry is the biggest culprit for ageist recruitment language. 

Preply collaborated with Steph Lowrey-Willson, Executive Director of Age On, to identify 16 common age-discriminatory words and phrases that were included in the analysis. 

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Key findings:

• Texas has the highest use of ageist language in job advertisements in the country with 65.3% of job listings containing ageist terms, followed by Washington and New York.

• The retail industry is by far the industry that used ageist language the most. 38% of job adverts in the retail industry contain ageist terms and phrases. 

• The most common ageist term used in job advertisements is “fast-paced”.

The study analyzed over 21 million job listings via LinkedIn to find out which states have the highest use of age-discriminating language in their recruitment.

• Texas has the highest use of ageist language in job advertisements in the country. 65.3% of job listings contained ageist terms. 

• Washington state is closely behind with 65.1% of job adverts containing ageist terms and phrases. 

• New York is in third position with 49.5% of job advertisements using ageist language.

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• Overall, it seems that coastal and southern states use the most ageist terms in job adverts. 

• Alaska and Delaware are the states with the least use of ageist terms in the country with both having only 0.17% of use of ageist terms in job advertisements. 

The industries that use ageist language the most in the U.S. 

We analyzed job listings via LinkedIn to find out which industries have the highest use age-discriminating language in their recruitment.

• The retail industry is the most ageist in the country. 38% of job adverts in the retail industry contain ageist terms and phrases. 

• Interestingly, the charity industry ranks 2nd, before business or real estate, with 29.9% of job adverts containing ageist language. 

The most common ageist words used in job advertisements in the U.S. 

We analyzed job listings in the US to find out which ageist terms and phrases appear in job advertisements. With the help of Steph Lowrey-Willson, we identified 16 common age-discriminatory words and phrases in the US, being used across 13 major industries. 

• The most common ageist term used in job advertisements is “fast-paced”.

• “Innovative” and “dynamic” come in second and third places, respectively. 

Methodology  

• We analyzed over 21 million job listings in the US via LinkedIn to find the extent to which companies were using age-discriminating language in their recruitment.
  
  

• We analyzed three categories of data:
  
  

1. Which locations used the most ageist language?
   
   

2. How often ageist terms and phrases appear in job advertisements?
   
   

3. Which industries use ageist language in their job ads the most often?
   
   

• Along with Steph Lowrey-Willson we identified 17 common age-discriminatory words and phrases in the UK and 16 in the US, being used across 13 major industries