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  3. In 2007 a French food company wanted to buy a family-owned firm in India. The patriarch was 72, and the French firm wanted to se

In 2007 a French food company wanted to buy a family-owned firm in India. The patriarch was 72, and the French firm wanted to se

admin2011-03-11  30
问题     In 2007 a French food company wanted to buy a family-owned firm in India. The patriarch was 72, and the French firm wanted to send someone of similar experience to talk to him. But because of its youthful corporate culture-most people are hustled out of the door in their mid 40s-it had no one to send. In the end, through Experconnect, an employment agency in Paris which places retired people, it found a 58-year-old former head of a European consumer-goods firm, and sent him out to Mumbai.  
    France has a poor record when it comes to keeping older people in the workforce. The retirement age is 60, not 65 as in most developed countries. In 2005 only 37.8% of people aged 55-64 had jobs, versus 56.8% in Britain and 44.9% in Germany. The main reason is that in the 1980s, when there was high unemployment, the government promoted early retirement. That entrenched the idea that older workers were less productive, says Caroline Young, Experconnect’s founder.  
    Now companies are worried about losing their most skilled workers, especially as the baby boom generation nears retirement. Areva, a nuclear-power group, recently launched a scheme to address the needs of older employees, and plans to use about 100 retired people a year through Experconnect. Because nuclear power was unpopular for decades, Areva stopped training engineers, so that much of its expertise lies with its oldest staff. Now it is taking much more interest in them. "We have to bring about a revolution in opinion," says Jean Cassingena, its human-resources strategist.  
    Unlike other recruitment agencies, Experconnect keeps its workers on its own books, so they can carry on drawing their pensions. They tend to work part-time on one-off projects. Engineers and people with high levels of technical skill are most in demand in France, says Ms Young, as younger people increasingly choose to go into fields such as marketing. Thales, a defence and aerospace firm, is using a former radar expert, for instance, and Louis Berger France, an engineering firm, often uses retired engineers to manage big infrastructure projects.  
    Softer industries also make use of Experconnect. Danone, a food firm, hires people for one-off management roles. "Older people have seen it all and they are level-headed," says Thomas Kunz, its head of beverages. The beauty industry is short of toxicologists to determine whether new lotions are safe, and one firm has just taken on a 75-year-old. Two famous French luxury-goods companies plan to use retired workers in their handbag divisions. One wants to safeguard its knowledge of fine leathers and sewing; the other wants to apply expertise from the aerospace industry to make new kinds of materials for handbags.  
    Despite an impressive handful of high-profile clients, Experconnect has found it difficult to convince French companies that older workers can be valuable. It has 2,700 retired people on its books, and has so far placed just 50 of them on "missions". Old prejudices, as they say, die hard.
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the text?
选项 A、France has a poor record when it comes to keeping older people in the workforce.
B、Realizing the trend, young people gradually turn back from marketing to other careers.
C、Older workers still have a hard time in finding a job.
D、Engineers and people with high levels of technical skill are most in demand in France.
答案B
解析 A项说法国不善于利用老龄劳动力，这在第二段中有表述，故正确。B项说年轻人现在越来越多地从销售转向其他行业，而文中是说“younger people increasingly choose to go into fields such as marketing”，故B项错误。C项老年人仍难找到工作和D项法国急 需工程师和其他高技术工种人才都在文中有对应的表述，故选择B项。   
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