Part-time jobs for retirees to compensate
population ageing
57th session of the UNECE
(Palais des Nations, Geneva, 7-10 May 2002)
The dwindling working-age population and the increasing burden of providing
support for the old and very old in Europe, means that the Continent needs
to reconsider its whole economic and social policy, said András Klinger,
Head of the Population Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences at the
round table on population ageing, socio-demographic changes and labour
market responses which took place during the annual session of the United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
There are a number of policies to offset the effects of an ageing population,
such as raising participation rates for older workers or reducing youth unemployment.
This may require active labour market policies and (re)training programmes,
but above all a reform of the incentives for employers to keep their older
workers employed in the face of recession or a slowdown in growth. "Enterprises
must take more account of the importance of the experience of older workers,
through initiatives such as inter-generational team work which could improve
working conditions and provide older people with an incentive to stay in the
labour market." Furthermore, "social protection systems should discourage
early retirement," stressed Christoph Linzbach, Chairperson of the Open-Ended
Working Group on the Berlin Process, and representative of the Federal Ministry
of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth of Germany.
More incentives should also be given to retirees to participate in the labour
market on a part-time basis. "Penalties for older people working beyond
their social security eligibility should be suppressed. In some countries,
including Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands, this tax penalty is very high,"
said David Wise, Professor of Economics at Harvard University. The outcome
is that these countries have low employment and activity rates.
While the current trend is towards a shorter working life, the official retirement
age should in fact be raised. This increase is not only meant to bridge the
gap in the demand for labour but also to adjust the official retirement age
to people's longer (and healthier) life expectancy.
Some of the other measures to increase the participation rate are: reducing
unemployment as far as possible, particularly among the young where unemployment
is particularly high, encouraging an increase in female participation rates,
bearing in mind that this may lead to increased demand for child-care facilities.
Immigration can also compensate for population ageing, but only temporarily.
In his conclusion Mr. Klinger mentioned that national policies should be
helped by regional cooperation and coordination. The forthcoming UNECE Ministerial
Conference on Ageing to take place in Berlin on 11-13 September 2002 is a
good opportunity to establish the mechanisms in the UNECE region for such
cooperation.
For further information please contact:
UNECE Information Service
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: +41(0)22 917 44 44
Fax: +41(0)22 917 05 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.unece.org/
Ref: ECE/GEN/02/14