Study: Integrating older workers is key to growth[de]

Published: Wednesday 3 October 2007

Industrialised nations will soon be facing major problems in terms of skills and labour shortage if they do not reform their policies for retaining and re-integrating mature workers into the production process, according to a US new study.

Background:

In 1997, 30 percent of the G7's population was aged 50 or over; however in 2017, the figure will be closer to 40 percent. The percentage of the G7's population considered to be of prime working age (15 to 49 years old) will decline from 51 percent ten years ago to 44 percent ten years from now.

A new study commissioned by AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, looks at how the world's leading economies are responding to the ageing workforce dynamic. The study examined the (G7) countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US). It includes feedback from governments, employers and 8,200 employees across the G7 countries.

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Some of the study's key findings are:

Forty-one percent of the employees surveyed above the age of 50 expect to retire within the next five years; another 18 percent think that they may retire.
However, if workers in that age bracket all leave the workforce at once over the next five to ten years, significant talent gaps loom across a range of industries in many of the G7 countries.
Those talents gaps can best be overcome by increasing the labour force participation rate of mature workers.
Due to booming economies and less dramatic demographic change, Canada , the UK and the US are best positioned to meet this challenge, with Germany and France catching up. The study warns that "Italy and Japan will need to put more focus on these issues because they face rapidly ageing populations, growing longevity and low birth rates".
When asked what was the main barrier to the creation of new jobs, more than 60% of employees responded with age discrimination. A mere 38% said that their employer welcomed older workers. Only 30% believe that their employer has well-defined policies to encourage the continued employment of mature workers. In Italy and Germany, only 13% of workers believe that to be the case.