The Fallacy of Systemic Ageism as National HR Policy: Lessons from Thailand

The world population is rapidly aging. The global population is about 7.8 billion, of which about 1 billion are individuals aged 60 years or older - accounting for 14% of the world’s population. Thailand is now the oldest country, by age of population, in Southeast Asia, while at the same time, it has a birthrate of only 1.1 children per woman. During this distressing trajectory towards depopulation, where the number of deaths surpasses the number of births, Thailand has complicated its demographic crisis by operationalizing ageism as a key component of human resource management in both the public and private sectors. This study examines the macro and microeconomic implications of ageism in a society where Thai public employees are required to retire at age 60 and where most of the private sector now follows this unfortunate practice. In academia, both public and private, most new hires of academicians are not hired if above the age of 45, thus triggering a recent scandal of professors in Thailand's public and private universities for purchasing fake scholarly journal articles to meet tenure-track requirements. This study provides recommendations to eradicate the folly of ageism.