News Release

IOA to study older workers in information technology sector

January 13, 2003

The Institute on Aging has been awarded funding to conduct the US component of a large, multi-national study of aging and information technology in the workplace. Victor Marshall, Director of the Institute, is co-investigator on the project.

Investigators will conduct sixteen case studies at the firm level in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the European Union. Three of the US case studies will be conducted in North Carolina and one by researchers at Florida State University. The collaborative cross-national study involves researchers at eight universities, various labor groups, technology organizations, government agencies and IT companies.

The project is funded at $3 million (Canadian) by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through its Initiative on the New Economy Program. Professor Julie McMullin, a former student of Professor Marshall and now Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario, will lead the study.

The project advisory panel includes Claude Snow, a member of the UNC Board of Visitors, and Debbie Brantley of the North Carolina Division on Aging.

Specifically, the research team will be examining:

• Discrimination based on age, gender, race and ethnicity in the IT workforce
• Relationships between employers and employees in IT firms - are they good places to work?
• Specific skill sets required for IT work
• The portion of older workers, women, and ethnic and racial minority groups currently employed in the IT sector
• How IT employers deal with major events in employees' lives, such as the school-to-work transition, marriage and parenting.

For more information contact Victor W. Marshall, Ph.D., Director, UNC Institute on Aging at (919) 966-9444 or victor_marshall@unc.edu.