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 Editorials | Issues | September 2007 
35 Years Old is Over the Hill in Mexico
 Chris Hawley & Sergio Solache - The Arizona Republic
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 |  | Although slimy hiring practices are widespread in Mexico - want ads for female secretaries with "good presentation" are notorious - age discrimination is by far the most common, labor-rights groups say. |  | |
Mexico City - When his employer went belly-up five years ago, flight attendant Javier Vazquez should have had no problem getting another job.
His résumé was stellar: eight years of experience, fluency in three languages and a hard-to-get U.S. traveler's visa. Plus, air travel was booming in Mexico, creating a demand for flight attendants.
There was only one problem: Vazquez was 37. And in Mexico, where blatant age discrimination is not only tolerated but expected, people over 35 need not apply.
Although slimy hiring practices are widespread in Mexico - want ads for female secretaries with "good presentation" are notorious - age discrimination is by far the most common, labor-rights groups say.
The practice robs Mexico's economy of experienced workers, discourages people from investing time in postgraduate degrees that could help the country advance and drives professionals into the vast, untaxed sector of odd jobs and street vending, experts said. It also happens to be illegal, but Mexico's labor laws are rarely enforced.
"The government doesn't care about this problem," Vazquez said. "They prefer that people continue to emigrate."
Mexican authorities admit they are lax in enforcing laws against age discrimination.
"Not denouncing these kinds of practices is a failure on our part," said Jean Philbert Mobwa-Mobwa, director of complaints at the National Council for the Prevention of Discrimination.
The country's median age is 24, compared with 35 in the United States, and 58.8 million of Mexico's 103 million people are under age 30. That leaves a glut of young people looking for work. And because many Mexican youths live with their parents until marriage, they're willing to work for much less than older, married employees.
"The companies hire [younger employees] because they have smaller family responsibilities, so they can live with less income and cause fewer problems," said Jorge Barajas, director of Mexico's Center for Labor Reflection and Action, an advocacy group.
The first article of Mexico's 1917 constitution prohibits "all discrimination motivated by ethnic or national origin, gender, age, disabilities, social condition, health conditions, religion, opinions, preferences, marital status or anything else that threatens human dignity or degrades the rights and liberties of people."
Mexico's Law to Prohibit and Eliminate Discrimination of 2003 also outlaws age-based hiring practices but does not specify a punishment.
A 2005 poll by Mexico's Social Development Secretariat said 72.8 percent of Mexicans believe that age limits in want ads are wrong.
Still, only three people submitted complaints about age discrimination to the National Council for the Prevention of Discrimination that year, according to the annual report of the government-run agency.
Meanwhile in the U.S., which has about three times Mexico's population, 16,548 people filed age-discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last fiscal year.
The offenders aren't just Mexican companies. In one recent newspaper ad, Office Depot, of Delray Beach, Fla., sought a checkout supervisor between age 22 and 35 for a store in the Mexico City suburb of Texcoco.
Blockbuster, based in Dallas, advertised for assistant store managers ages 18 to 27. A sign outside a Holiday Inn in central Mexico City sought a housekeeper between the ages of 20 and 34. Job Web sites are full of similar offers from 7-Eleven, Marriott Hotels and other non-Mexican companies.
Most companies did not respond to requests for comment on their employment ads. Others said the ads were not meant to exclude certain people and that older candidates were welcome to apply.
OVER 40? GOOD LUCK FINDING A JOB
Companies in Mexico openly discriminate in hiring on the basis of age, and U.S. firms are frequent offenders. The following is a sampling of employment ads they have placed in Mexico:
Mars Inc.: Assistant accountant for pet food and chocolate division. Age: 20 to 30.
Office Depot: Sales associates for new store in Texcoco. Age: 18 to 35.
Marsh & McLennan: Account executive for property damage division, Tijuana. Age: 26 to 37.
Blockbuster: Assistant store managers in Guadalajara. Age: 18 to 24.
General Motors: Assistant accountant for dealership in Iztapalapa neighborhood of Mexico City (female only). Age: 18 to 28.
RadioShack: Internal auditor in Mexico City. Age: 25 to 35.
Kellogg's Co.: Junior sales representative for Cancun area. Age: 21 to 26. |
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