@ShredderLivesOn A lot of this harks back to the "Family man", the "breadwinner" historic perspective. The older man has not only more experience and skills (which might be a reasonable reason or excuse for a rising scale of wages) but also has a family to support. It's the same prejudice as the working woman is only earning "pin money" and doesn't need to be paid as much even when doing the same work! It's a prejudice which takes no notice of how society has moved on, not just since the 21st century but even from the mid 20th. It's also why despite the equal pay acts women are still, decades on, paid less