tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/ageing-workforce-3883/articlesAgeing workforce – The Conversation2023-02-21T18:46:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1992402023-02-21T18:46:42Z2023-02-21T18:46:42ZWorking more and making less: Canada needs to protect immigrant women care workers as they age<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510403/original/file-20230215-28-28mmto.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C152%2C5946%2C3835&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Immigrant women working in the care sector do the essential work many Canadians rely on, but low wages mean many need to work past retirement age.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/working-more-and-making-less--canada-needs-to-protect-immigrant-women-care-workers-as-they-age" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The pandemic has heightened Canadians’ awareness of the 3D jobs — <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/immigrant-women-face-dangerous-working-conditions-in-long-term-care-u-of-c-researcher">dirty, difficult and dangerous</a> — done by many migrant workers in our communities.</p>
<p>When the pandemic first struck, many of these workers were on the front line working in essential services. Engaged in low-wage work in health and child care, immigrant care workers had <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8123521/covid-cases-death-healthcare-workers-canada/">high rates of COVID-19 infections</a>, while also experiencing <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210312/dq210312a-eng.htm">widespread job losses</a> and continuing <a href="https://www.parklandinstitute.ca/more_than_just_a_health_care_aide">financial struggles to make ends meet</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08959420.2022.2139984">Our recent paper</a> in the <em>Journal of Aging and Social Policy</em> reveals troubling realities for immigrant women care workers as they age. We found that immigrant women aged 65 and over who entered Canada through the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/caregivers.html#caregiver">(Live-in) Caregiver program</a> work more but make less than other comparable immigrant women. The required live-in component was <a href="https://mwcbc.ca/downloads/AnOverviewofCanadasNewCaregiverProgram-AShiftfromPermanencetoPrecariousness.pdf">removed in 2014</a> and the program has since been split into <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/caregivers/child-care-home-support-worker/2023-changes.html">two pilot programs</a>. </p>
<p>These findings are crucially important given <a href="https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/as-sa/98-200-X/2021004/98-200-x2021004-eng.cfm">Canada’s rapidly aging population</a> and increasing concern about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0714980810000814">senior poverty in racialized communities</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman wearing a blue nurses uniform plays Connect Four with an elderly man." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510404/original/file-20230215-3589-jwqkr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Jobs like personal support workers, home health aides and child-care workers tend to have low wages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
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<h2>Working past retirement age</h2>
<p>In Canada, we have long known that it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928718768337">disproportionately racialized immigrant women</a> (specifically Black and Filipina women) who do challenging and devalued work as carers. We also know that jobs like personal support workers, home health aides and child-care workers are still usually associated with “women’s work” and tend to have low wages.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-treat-migrant-workers-who-put-food-on-our-tables-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-4-153275">How we treat migrant workers who put food on our tables: Don't Call Me Resilient EP 4</a>
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<p>However, what we have not known is whether these women continue to experience these disadvantages later in life. Specifically, we have very little information about the financial challenges immigrant women care workers in Canada face as they age. </p>
<p>On the one hand, it is plausible that care workers are more likely than other workers to continue working past the typical retirement age because of their relatively <a href="https://progressive-economics.ca/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/temppermlcpfinal.pdf">low wages and limited savings</a>. </p>
<p>On the other hand, due to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4431-4">physically and emotionally demanding nature of care work</a>, which can be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-014-9423-2">detrimental to their health</a>, care workers may be less likely to continue working past age 65 and have higher rates of eligibility for government low-income supports. </p>
<p>Our recent research tried to clarify the situation of immigrant care workers as they age. We examined 11 years of Statistics Canada data from 2007-2017 to compare the income sources and trajectories of immigrant women who entered Canada through three migrant entry programs. </p>
<p>We used Statistics Canada’s <a href="https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=5057">Longitudinal Immigration Database</a> to unpack how the gendered and racialized devaluation of caring occupations disadvantages immigrant women as they age. The database is a comprehensive source of administrative data that includes information on the socio-economic status of tax-filing immigrants since their arrival in Canada.</p>
<p>The data show that care workers are more likely to be employed after the age of 65 than other immigrant women, but have a lower and declining total income as they age. </p>
<p>Furthermore, while care workers receive higher rates of government pension benefits, they tend to have lower levels of private pension savings. And the cumulative income they report shows a relative decline over time.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a nurse uniform assists an elderly woman using a walker." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510405/original/file-20230215-28-zj46uz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Care workers are more likely to be employed after the age of 65 but have a declining total income as they age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Prioritizing care workers as they age</h2>
<p>So what does this all mean? Our study underscores serious concerns about government investment in alleviating senior poverty. The conditions of low-wage care workers, before and after retirement, must be prioritized.</p>
<p>The package of pension supports available in Canada, which includes Old Age Security, the Guaranteed Income Supplement and the Canada Pension Plan, does not offset the decline in earnings immigrant care worker women face as they age. </p>
<p>That means there is a need to enhance policies that address senior poverty, recognizing that immigrant care worker women are among Canada’s most vulnerable populations. These women experience <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12851">intersectional disadvantages</a> as immigrants, women and racialized minorities. </p>
<p>Our findings also reinforce the need for more full-time, permanent and well-paying jobs in the Canadian care sector. As of 2017, the unemployment rate of female immigrants in Canada was <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-606-x/71-606-x2018001-eng.htm">nearly double</a> that of their Canadian-born counterparts. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-09-2020-0255">Recent research</a> finds that the pandemic increased rates of unemployment and led to shifts to precarious work for many immigrant women in Canada.</p>
<p>The federal government must enhance access to and the amount of money provided through the Guaranteed Income Supplement to address senior poverty within underserved communities. Any government invested in reducing social inequalities and protecting vulnerable senior populations must consider the financial challenges immigrant care worker women face as they age and equalize their income over time with other comparable groups. And we, as the electorate, must do our part to keep governments accountable to this goal. </p>
<p>Ultimately, immigrant women are doing the essential jobs that most Canadians rely on. They are caring for our elderly, sick or young family members when we are in need. </p>
<p>It is the very least we can do to ensure that immigrant women care workers are able to age with financial security, dignity and adequate social protections.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi Lightman receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (file number 435-2021-0486).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hamid Akbary received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (grant number 752-2019-2640). In addition to his academic affiliation, he works as an Analyst for Statistics Canada. </span></em></p>Immigrant care workers are having to work into retirement age to make ends meet. The Canadian government must do more to support them.Naomi Lightman, Associate Professor of Sociology, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityHamid Akbary, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Sociology, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1614482021-06-01T15:10:14Z2021-06-01T15:10:14ZKenya’s civil service is ageing, but adjustments aren’t being made<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402847/original/file-20210526-17-pxn9sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The demographic profiles of countries like Kenya, where a <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/demographic-dividend">high percentage</a> of people are young, would suggest that it’s swiftly renewing its workforce with fresh talent. </p>
<p>But this doesn’t seem to be the case.</p>
<p>We conducted a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-01-2015-0002">study</a> in a public sector organisation three years ago. We found that the bureau had an ageing workforce. More than half of its staff were 50 years old and above. The majority of employees were aged between 51 and 60. This suggests that, in general, Kenya’s civil service is skewed to older people. </p>
<p>The problem hasn’t been helped by the fact that <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/money-careers/article/2001394826/no-extension-of-retirement-age-from-next-year-says-psc">Kenya changed the retirement age</a> from 55 to 60 years in 2009. </p>
<p>Our analysis focused on the <a href="http://www.knbs.or.ke/">Kenya National Bureau of Statistics</a>. The study presents a microcosm of the wider Kenyan public sector environment. </p>
<p>Our study broke new ground because it explored diversity in the workplace from the perspective of age rather than gender and ethnicity as has been the case with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/01425451311320477">prior studies</a>.</p>
<p>The main focus of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-01-2015-0002">our study</a> was to look at the recruitment and retention strategies at the bureau. </p>
<p>We concluded from our findings that the bureau faced a serious demographic challenge in the makeup of its workforce and that the problem could be addressed by developing a strategic workforce plan for employees. This included having a clear understanding of recruitment, progression and retention processes that are all inclusive – taking into consideration demographics such as age, gender and to some extent ethnicity. </p>
<p>But this would need to be developed collectively by key parties within the organisation.</p>
<p>More broadly, our research shows that there’s an urgent need for Kenya’s public service to address the problem.</p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>The main purpose of the study was to investigate organisational sub-groups at the bureau and to tease out the multiple team perspectives as experienced in their everyday lives within the organisation. </p>
<p>We asked a sample of employees the following questions: how had the bureau managed the ageing workforce within its ranks? To what extent could it develop a plan to deal with the challenges posed by an ageing workforce within the organisation? And finally what were the current (recruitment) strategies for developing sustainable employee relations within the inter-generational workforce at the bureau? </p>
<p>At the time of the survey more than half of the bureau’s staff was over 50 years of age. Those aged 40 and below accounted for just over 15% of the workforce while 34% were between the ages of 41 and 50. </p>
<p>This demographic profile was far from optimal. We found that it was affecting the day-to-day activities in the organisation, in particular how people communicated with each other and shared information. For example, older people didn’t regularly use the internet and email, but younger members of the workforce did. The implication of this is that important work updates and news on social media could be easily missed.</p>
<p>The age profile also suggested that the bureau urgently needed to put in place recruitment and retention strategies. We found that most of the older workers at the bureau were retiring. This meant a loss of talent and skills because experience and skills hadn’t been passed along to younger workers. </p>
<p>We found that the bureau had not put in place opportunities for younger members of its workforce to learn from work shadowing, mentorship or apprenticeship as well as leadership development. This is important for continuity.</p>
<h2>Some answers</h2>
<p>Undoubtedly, workplaces face challenges, even with the best laid out plans.</p>
<p>One of the biggest is the question of ensuring that there is a talent pool to replace the current workforce as they approach retirement. This is also known as accession of the younger generation into the workplace. This is particularly pressing in the context of an ageing workforce.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Understanding+Y-p-9780730313816">Research</a> has pointed out that management should be aware of the characteristics of the different generations (notably <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/">Generation Y</a>, also known as the millennials, which refers to a group of people born from the early 1980s through to the turn of the millennium) even though it may also bring about inter-generational conflict in the workplace. </p>
<p>The answer lies in making sure that each generation’s unique values and office expectations are managed. This can be through job rotation, team-bonding, equality and diversity training sessions and the opportunity and space for sharing experiences.</p>
<p>Organisations should also have clearly defined roles and responsibilities to all staff without discrimination to ensure that all employees work in harmony.</p>
<p>For its part, the bureau needed to design a future workforce composition through detailed succession planning and talent management.</p>
<p>There seemed to be some degree of optimism about this among the respondents in our research. Many believed that the bureau would indeed make headway in recruiting in ways that ensured the percentage of young people – as well as women – would increase. They also believed that this would lead to a greater tolerance for minorities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161448/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Nnamdi Madichie is affiliated with the Unizik Business School, Awka, Nigeria, Coal City University, Enugu, Nigeria and the Bloomsbury Institute London. His is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.</span></em></p>Kenya faces the dilemma of an ageing workforce. The problem can be addressed by developing a strategic workforce plan for employees.Nnamdi O. Madichie, Professor of Marketing & Entrepreneurship, Nnamdi Azikiwe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263472019-11-06T04:01:56Z2019-11-06T04:01:56ZTweaking prescribing rules won’t fix chemical restraint in aged care<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300379/original/file-20191106-88414-14f64ac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C862%2C5973%2C3116&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One in five nursing home residents are given antipsychotic drugs.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/terminally-ill-senior-woman-selective-focus-466107614">Cineberg/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Royal Commission into Aged Care and Safety wasn’t supposed to make any recommendations in its interim report. Yet it identified <a href="https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/Documents/interim-report/interim-report-volume-1.pdf">three key areas</a> where immediate action should be taken. </p>
<p>Responding to the over-reliance on chemical restraint was one. The second and third focused on providing more home care and reducing the number of younger people in aged care homes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-aged-care-royal-commissions-3-areas-of-immediate-action-are-worthy-but-wont-fix-a-broken-system-126208">The aged care royal commission's 3 areas of immediate action are worthy, but won't fix a broken system</a>
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<p>As one way to address chemical restraint, <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/minister-vows-stronger-action-on-chemical-restraint-used-in-aged-care-sector/news-story/ee71af9e09dc88638a20ca734c9f7d88">health minister Greg Hunt this week announced</a> doctors will soon have to justify why a patient needs to have the drug risperidone for more than 12 weeks. </p>
<p>But this move is yet another quick fix that won’t solve this complex problem. </p>
<h2>What is chemical restraint?</h2>
<p>New <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2019L00511">legislation</a> states chemical restraint:</p>
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<p>involves the use of medication to influence a person’s behaviour, other than medication prescribed for a diagnosed mental disorder or a physical condition. </p>
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<p>With 86% of aged care residents <a href="https://www.gen-agedcaredata.gov.au/www_aihwgen/media/2018-factsheets/People-s_care_needs_in_aged_care_factsheet_2017%e2%80%9318.pdf">currently diagnosed</a> with a mental health or <a href="https://www.gen-agedcaredata.gov.au/www_aihwgen/media/2018-infographics/People-s-care-needs-in-aged-care-infographic-2017%e2%80%9318.pdf">behavioural condition</a>, it’s difficult to determine whether a medication is used to treat a person’s symptoms or to control their behaviour. It may well be both and is open to individual interpretation.</p>
<p>Psychotropic medications <a href="https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/Documents/interim-report/interim-report-volume-1.pdf">affect the mind</a>, emotions and behaviours. </p>
<p>The agents most commonly used to provide chemical restraint in aged care are antipsychotics (risperidone, quetiapine and olanzapine) and benzodiazepines (oxazepam and temazepam). <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0004867418758919">Other psychotropics</a>, such as sedating antidepressants (such as mirtazapine) and anti-epileptics, are also used to restrain residents.</p>
<p>It is important to acknowledge that some residents with behavioural symptoms of dementia may require a low dose of antipsychotic if they are severely distressed or at risk of harming themselves or others. About <a href="https://www.ranzcp.org/files/resources/college_statements/practice_guidelines/pg10-pdf.aspx">20% of people with dementia displaying aggressive behaviour</a> will improve when prescribed these. </p>
<p>But behavioural symptoms change over time. So the use of antipsychotic medications should be reviewed every 12 weeks, with a view to stopping.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/needless-treatments-antipsychotic-drugs-are-rarely-effective-in-calming-dementia-patients-103103">Needless treatments: antipsychotic drugs are rarely effective in 'calming' dementia patients</a>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300385/original/file-20191106-88428-1xs206h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300385/original/file-20191106-88428-1xs206h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300385/original/file-20191106-88428-1xs206h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300385/original/file-20191106-88428-1xs206h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300385/original/file-20191106-88428-1xs206h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300385/original/file-20191106-88428-1xs206h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300385/original/file-20191106-88428-1xs206h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">People on antipsychotic medications should have regular reviews.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/old-woman-stick-25041097">Lisa S/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Risperidone is the <a href="http://www.pbs.gov.au/medicine/item/8787L-8869T">only antipsychotic licensed in Australia</a> to treat behavioural symptoms of dementia. It’s authorised and subsidised for use in Alzheimer’s disease, when non-drug treatments have failed – and only then for 12 weeks. </p>
<p>However, the drug is used for far longer periods, with <a href="https://academic.oup.com/innovateage/article/1/suppl_1/968/3900596">one study reporting</a> the average duration exceeds two years. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0004867418758919">my national study</a> looking at psychotropic use, 22% of residents were taking antipsychotics – of these, more than half were taking risperidone. Judging from these high rates of use, it’s likely risperidone is prescribed for people with other types of dementia and as a first-line treatment.</p>
<h2>There’s no simple fix</h2>
<p>Risperidone is currently <a href="http://www.pbs.gov.au/medicine/item/8787L-8869T">authorised and subsidised for only 12 weeks</a>. It’s available under a “streamlined authority” system, meaning clinicians can easily prescribe it just by using a numerical code. </p>
<p>Use is not audited so prescribers have unrestricted access. </p>
<p>The health minister now wants to make it tougher for prescribers. After 12 weeks of use, they will have to phone Services Australia (formerly known as the Department of Human Services) and explain why they need to use it for longer. </p>
<p>But this response won’t solve the problem because it doesn’t address the root cause. </p>
<p>It also fails to curb the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0004867418758919">high use of other antipsychotics and other psychotropics</a>.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chemical-restraint-has-no-place-in-aged-care-but-poorly-designed-reforms-can-easily-go-wrong-112218">Chemical restraint has no place in aged care, but poorly designed reforms can easily go wrong</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the short term, restricting access may reduce the use of risperidone. But it’s very likely other sedatives will be prescribed instead. This is what happened when a warning about using risperidone was released in 2015. </p>
<p>The use of other agents, especially oxazepam and quetiapine, rose as a result. And by 2019, overall risperidone use has returned to original levels. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300395/original/file-20191106-88394-11pvzkm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300395/original/file-20191106-88394-11pvzkm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300395/original/file-20191106-88394-11pvzkm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300395/original/file-20191106-88394-11pvzkm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300395/original/file-20191106-88394-11pvzkm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300395/original/file-20191106-88394-11pvzkm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300395/original/file-20191106-88394-11pvzkm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300395/original/file-20191106-88394-11pvzkm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Targeting prescribing also implies doctors are to blame. It’s not that simple. Other influences also drive prescribing of these drugs. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.dovepress.com/prescribing-of-psychotropic-medication-for-nursing-home-residents-with-peer-reviewed-article-CIA">2017 survey of 177 GPs</a>, for instance, 91% said they had been pressured to prescribe psychotropics by staff. They said they often prescribed these drugs due to of a lack of staff and training on other ways to deal with these types of symptoms.</p>
<h2>So what needs to be done?</h2>
<p>After many years of research into this area, here’s what needs to be done to reduce chemical restraint in aged care homes.</p>
<p>First, we need to increase training and support for staff and health professionals on how best to manage behavioural and mental health symptoms, before reaching for the script pad. </p>
<p>It’s vital to first assess for causes (such as pain, infection, other medication) and to provide activities matched to the resident, communicate effectively and enrich their environment. </p>
<p>Second, audits, feedback of use and reviews are needed for staff, management and prescribers to monitor their psychotropic use. These audits need to be publicly available to hold homes to account.</p>
<p>Third, nurses at aged care homes need to be part of the medication review process, along with the GP and pharmacist. At present they are excluded. This doesn’t make sense, as they assess behaviour, request, monitor and administer psychotropic medication. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300388/original/file-20191106-88387-7bc504.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300388/original/file-20191106-88387-7bc504.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300388/original/file-20191106-88387-7bc504.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300388/original/file-20191106-88387-7bc504.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300388/original/file-20191106-88387-7bc504.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300388/original/file-20191106-88387-7bc504.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300388/original/file-20191106-88387-7bc504.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nurses should be involved in the medication review process.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/senior-woman-her-home-caregiver-80714623">Alexander Raths/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>From 2014 to 2016, I led a national intervention called <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2018/208/9/reduse-reducing-antipsychotic-and-benzodiazepine-prescribing-residential-aged">RedUSe</a>, which promoted all three strategies in 150 aged care homes around the country. </p>
<p>Nearly 40% of residents taking antipsychotics and benzodiazepines reduced their use, with most stopping them outright. This provides strong evidence this combination of strategies can reduce the use of chemical restraints. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/antipsychotic-drugs-harm-older-people-lets-reduce-their-use-24941">Antipsychotic drugs harm older people, let's reduce their use</a>
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</em>
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<p>There is little evidence, however, that restricting prescribing of a single psychotropic, as Minister Hunt suggests, will have any impact at all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Juanita Breen (previously Westbury) received $3.2M of funding through the University of Tasmania from the Department of Health from 2008/9 and 2013-2016 to develop, run and evaluate the 'Reducing Use of Sedatives' (RedUSe) program. Over 170 Australian aged care homes in 6 States and the ACT have participated in RedUse to date. Dr Breen was also the recipient of a NHMRC Translating Research into Practice (TRIP) Fellowship in 2014/15.</span></em></p>Doctors will have to justify prescribing the antipsychotic drug risperidone for longer than 12 weeks. But that won’t fix the problem of using drugs to manage aged care residents’ behaviour.Juanita Breen (previously Westbury), Senior Lecturer in Dementia Care, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1095292019-01-11T13:35:18Z2019-01-11T13:35:18ZJapan’s desperate need for migrant workers a warning for the UK<p>Japan brought in a controversial <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/02/fears-of-exploitation-as-japan-prepares-to-admit-foreign-workers">new labour policy</a> at the end of 2018 which will open up blue-collar jobs to workers from countries such as Nepal, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. The amendment to Japan’s notoriously restrictive immigration laws is expected to bring in an estimated 345,000 foreign workers within the next five years. It comes in response to the <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/japans-ageing-population-reaches-new-world-record-bs9cr8mjx">ageing workforce of Japan</a>, where 28% of the population are over 65 and birth rates <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japans-population-is-shrinking-demographic-time-bomb-2018-6?r=US&IR=T">are falling</a>. </p>
<p>Without migrants, Japan would face a very real danger of running out of workers. Is the UK next? Despite decades of free movement from the EU, an ageing workforce, uncertainty over post-Brexit immigration policy and an increasingly negative perception of Britain as a potential workplace have left many businesses feeling under threat.</p>
<p>A new <a href="https://www.britishchambers.org.uk/news/2019/01/bcc-quarterly-economic-survey-big-squeeze-on-firms-from-recruitment-prices-and-cash-flow">report by the British Chambers of Commerce</a> stated that recruitment difficulties in manufacturing are at their joint highest on record, with 81% of manufacturers reporting challenges in finding the right staff. The service industry is not far behind. At the same time, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-real-reasons-why-british-workers-wont-pick-fruit-80152">industries such as agriculture</a> were reporting mild to severe labour shortages even before the EU referendum, an issue that <a href="https://theconversation.com/british-farms-could-get-a-special-pass-to-hire-migrant-workers-after-brexit-103393">appears unlikely to be dealt</a> with in a meaningful way any time soon.</p>
<p>While the reasons for current labour shortages in the UK vary from industry to industry, they include <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46736969">tightening cash flow</a>, low pay, poor conditions, lack of appropriate skills or poor work-life balance. </p>
<h2>An ageing workforce</h2>
<p>But over and above this, the major contributing factor to the current labour crisis is often that of the ageing population. Although over 65-year-olds currently make up only 18% of the population, the UK’s <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/ageing/articles/livinglongerhowourpopulationischangingandwhyitmatters/2018-08-13">Office of National Statistics predicts</a> that, much like Japan now, by 2066 at least a quarter of the UK population will be 65 or over, with more than five million of those being over 85. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253275/original/file-20190110-43538-ncftec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253275/original/file-20190110-43538-ncftec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253275/original/file-20190110-43538-ncftec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253275/original/file-20190110-43538-ncftec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253275/original/file-20190110-43538-ncftec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253275/original/file-20190110-43538-ncftec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253275/original/file-20190110-43538-ncftec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253275/original/file-20190110-43538-ncftec.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Projected population by age group.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/ageing/articles/livinglongerhowourpopulationischangingandwhyitmatters/2018-08-13">Office for National Statistics</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Industries that rely on young workers, such as hospitality, or those sectors which involve more physically demanding tasks, such as agriculture, already report that there simply are not enough people in the UK to do the work. While this is partly due to a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/36baacce-ddd0-11e8-9f04-38d397e6661c">dip in birth rates</a> around the turn of the 21st century, the agriculture sector has experienced a <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/05/andrea-leadom-is-right--we-need-to-get-more-young-people-into-fa/">progressively ageing workforce</a> for several decades. This has come alongside a gradual <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-real-reasons-why-british-workers-wont-pick-fruit-80152">decline in interest in the industry</a> by domestic workers. Agricultural labour shortages are worsened by the fact that rural areas where farms are most in need of workers are often home to the <a href="https://www.ageukmobility.co.uk/mobility-news/article/how-old-is-the-uk">highest populations of over 65s</a>. </p>
<p>UK employers have become increasingly dependent on young people from the EU and beyond over the past 50 years. Brexit – and the likely immigration restrictions that will follow it – could be of enormous detriment to the UK labour market.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-to-remain-a-hostile-environment-for-immigration-under-nebulous-new-post-brexit-policy-109095">UK to remain a hostile environment for immigration under nebulous new post-Brexit policy</a>
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<hr>
<p>With the number of children being born in the UK hitting a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-birth-rate-latest-number-babies-born-lowest-decade-a8066101.html">10-year low in 2017</a>, the country needs to keep a close eye on Japan’s demographic time bomb and how it is affecting the country’s labour force requirements. Until now, Japan has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-20/japan-foreign-immigration-amid-desperate-labour-shortage/10632288">imposed strict restrictions on immigration</a>, a hangover from a long period when the country operated a “closed country” policy which encouraged ethnic and cultural homogeneity. </p>
<p>In a more recent recognition of its labour shortage crisis, the Japanese government opted to focus on encouraging more women into work, as well as increased activity by elderly people – and a parallel focus on increasing the nation’s birth rate. But the desperate need for workers led to the new labour policy being forced through Japan’s parliament despite <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/11/26/national/politics-diplomacy/opposition-ramps-criticism-new-immigration-law-ahead-lower-house-passage/#.XDdzL_zgrm0">significant opposition</a>, as it was acknowledged that without foreign workers, positions simply could not be filled. </p>
<h2>Wary of exploitation</h2>
<p>Japan’s immigration schemes, such as the Technical Intern Training Programme (TITP), don’t have a good track record, with some critics describing it as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-20/japan-foreign-immigration-amid-desperate-labour-shortage/10632288">akin to modern slavery</a>. Set up in the early 1990s, the TITP was designed to provide training in technical skills, technology and knowledge for workers from developing countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines, in roles such as agriculture, fishery and construction. The scheme has become strongly associated with <a href="https://www.ihrb.org/focus-areas/mega-sporting-events/japan-migrant-workers-titp">human rights abuses</a> such as trafficking and forced labour.</p>
<p>The UK has its own history of migrant exploitation, especially in sectors such as agriculture. But <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/caroline-nye/farming-out-the-field-wor_b_14281946.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer_us=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_cs=-3wBkg-Qm2i8QnkApt2YwQ">it would be naïve to assume</a> that by preventing the influx of foreign workers after Brexit, abuse and human rights violations related to food would simply cease. Moving the problem elsewhere does not necessarily make consumers less accountable for exploitation or human rights violations. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253285/original/file-20190110-43525-k291j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253285/original/file-20190110-43525-k291j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253285/original/file-20190110-43525-k291j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253285/original/file-20190110-43525-k291j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253285/original/file-20190110-43525-k291j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253285/original/file-20190110-43525-k291j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253285/original/file-20190110-43525-k291j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not enough people’s dream job.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/387753475?src=pPSaZUP_6Cx5TsCB0tQ0KA-1-72&size=medium_jpg">Sebastien Coell/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To safeguard against further exploitation, the Japanese government indicated that its new foreign worker policy will actively encourage companies to directly hire workers instead of using abusive or exploitative middlemen. It will also offer salaries equal to those of Japanese workers in the same position, language support and training. These are all strategies the UK might be wise to consider in any future immigration labour policy, especially agriculture – where <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/shocking-extent-of-modern-slavery-in-agriculture-revealed">rogue gangmasters</a> have been known to create horrific living and working situations for some workers. Both countries have much work to do regarding their treatment of foreign workers.</p>
<p>According to a 2012 <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/513801/Working_Futures_final_evidence_report.pdf">report</a> by the World Economic Forum, “human capital will be the most critical resource differentiating the prosperity of countries and companies”. Unless the birth rate in the UK significantly increases, attracting back <a href="https://www.eadt.co.uk/business/migrant-workers-shun-uk-in-larger-numbers-says-study-1-5774669">workers who are currently shunning the UK</a> might ultimately prove an essential move in order that the shape of labour in the country doesn’t collapse completely.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109529/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Nye has previously received funding from the John Oldacre Foundation. She also works as a social researcher for The Donkey Sanctuary. </span></em></p>Like Japan, the UK is facing an ageing population that is compounding other problems putting pressure on the labour market.Dr Caroline Nye, Associate Researcher, Centre for Rural Policy Research, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1020562018-08-28T16:12:59Z2018-08-28T16:12:59ZThe longevity dividend: how ageing populations could boost economic productivity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233434/original/file-20180824-149493-rtx8em.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Armed with a lifetime of skills. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/elderly-businesswoman-working-her-desk-office-189270530?src=aLeSh5zxfG937bWKPGbWgA-1-79">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>People are generally living longer than previous generations across most parts of the world. Rising life expectancy is a result of advances in medicine as well as improving living standards and healthier lifestyles. But while this should be celebrated for social reasons, is it beneficial in economic terms? Does the increase in the older population create an economic burden on society or can older people be mobilised to enhance the productivity of communities in which they work and live?</p>
<p>New analysis of international <a href="http://www.ilcuk.org.uk/index.php/publications/publication_details/towards_a_longevity_dividend">data</a> from 35 countries, published by the International Longevity Centre, provides more evidence in favour of a “longevity dividend”. The authors found that as life expectancy increases, so does “output per hour worked, per worker and per capita”. </p>
<p>Yet, much of the public debate on ageing has been framed in terms of a “burden”. As populations age, governments have worried about how a swelling population of retired people will put increasing stress on pension systems and the social care sector. Policies to raise state pension ages, reduce entitlements and move towards defined contribution pension schemes aren’t aimed so much at reducing the burden of increased longevity but rather shifting the cost of it from the state and employers to the individual. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233290/original/file-20180823-149475-vrr38k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233290/original/file-20180823-149475-vrr38k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233290/original/file-20180823-149475-vrr38k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233290/original/file-20180823-149475-vrr38k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233290/original/file-20180823-149475-vrr38k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=310&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233290/original/file-20180823-149475-vrr38k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233290/original/file-20180823-149475-vrr38k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233290/original/file-20180823-149475-vrr38k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scatterplot of life expectancy and GDP per hour 1970-2015 (35 countries).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.ilcuk.org.uk/index.php/publications/publication_details/towards_a_longevity_dividend">Toward a longevity dividend, International Longevity Centre</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Employers worry about the burden of managing an expanding number of older workers who cannot afford to retire when they want to, are less physically capable to take on certain tasks than younger colleagues, and are perceived as less adaptable to changes in work. Many people <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/pension-poverty-retirement-research-state-savings-joseph-rowntree-foundation-prudential-a8275626.html">are afraid</a> that the burden of longer lives may make retirement unaffordable. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-question-employers-are-wary-to-ask-when-are-you-going-to-retire-70971">The question employers are wary to ask: when are you going to retire?</a>
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<p>In the UK, a third of retired people have the state pension as their only source of income. Given that the new full state pension (currently <a href="https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/what-youll-get">£164.35</a> per week for a single person) would need to be increased dramatically in order to reach the absolute poverty threshold of <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/691917/households-below-average-income-1994-1995-2016-2017.pdf">£296 per week per household</a> – the point at which one struggles to meet basic needs – the affordability of retirement is a significant concern for many. </p>
<p>Even young people <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2017/jan/23/saving-retirement-pension-generation-old-age">have concerns</a> about the cost of ageing. If retirement ages stay where they are, future generations will be responsible for supporting an increasing number of retirees through rising taxes and pension contributions. If older people delay retirement (as they are across the EU where for men it <a href="http://www.oecd.org/els/emp/average-effective-age-of-retirement.htm">was aged 63.4 years in 2016</a> compared with 62 ten years previously), young people worry about being crowded out of the job market.</p>
<p>But there’s an alternative perspective which frames an ageing population as a phenomenon which can enhance productivity and therefore pay a societal dividend. Older workers have formal, technical and tacit skills which they’ve accumulated through long service. Employers in sectors which are facing labour shortages are seeking to acquire such skills through programmes such as mid-career apprenticeships. Older workers can also help younger ones find pathways into secure and well-paid work through mentoring and job sharing. Many older people are also contributing to social welfare by taking on caring roles such as looking after grandchildren and elderly parents.</p>
<h2>Get them when they’re older</h2>
<p>Whether increased longevity is a burden or a dividend depends on the extent to which societies prepare for the challenges of ageing populations and plan for making use of the benefits. One of the most tangible benefits of living and working longer is the retention of skills and knowledge. However, employers do not always know how to use such assets, especially when they come from outside their workplaces. </p>
<p>For example, I am working on a project with the Officers’ Association on the experiences of older military officers in transitioning to civilian work. Employers speak positively of officers but are often unsure how to use skills acquired through military service. But officers have skills in leadership, work organisation and decision-making which can be applied to a broad range of jobs.</p>
<p>Economies which are experiencing a longevity dividend are those in which governments, employers and labour unions are working in a coordinated way to make use of the older workforce as a resource. In Japan, for example, the government has invested in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/careers/careers-blog/retirement-ageing-workforce-japan-jobs">Silver Human Resource Centers</a> to help older people gain employment in sectors facing skills shortages. Training and intergenerational learning is being facilitated in places like Hong Kong through <a href="https://www.elderacademy.org.hk/en/institution/index.html">Elderly Academies</a> which encourage older people to take part in education while normalising older people’s place in the classroom for young students. Across Europe, employers and unions <a href="http://www.adapt.it/aspire/">are collaborating</a>, with help from EU funding, to develop, pilot and embed new approaches to managing age by redesigning work. </p>
<p>The longevity dividend, like most economic benefits, is attainable but needs to be worked for. Mobilising older workers’ skills, expanding labour forces and fostering intergenerational solidarity will mean that rising life expectancy can be both socially and economically good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102056/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Flynn receives funding from the European Commission, British Academy and European Social Fund for research on workplace active ageing. He is also carrying out research for the Officers' Association and Forces in Mind Trust on the transition of older military officers into civilian work.</span></em></p>An ageing population doesn’t have to be an economic burden.Matt Flynn, Professor in Organisational Behaviour & Human Resources, University of HullLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/988602018-07-12T20:07:56Z2018-07-12T20:07:56ZA silent career killer – here’s what workplaces can do about menopause<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226861/original/file-20180710-122250-cepbcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In one study, only a quarter of respondents felt able to discuss their menopausal symptoms with their manager.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-mature-female-manager-wearing-eyeglasses-406004056?src=KbB_G--7rSPjHAKIXIFwtA-2-77">stockfour/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More and more Australian women are facing a silent career killer. It can increase their dissatisfaction with work, their absenteeism and their intention to quit their jobs. Menopause is one of the last great taboo subjects in the workplace but its impacts are great – and it’s time we talked about it. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.menopause.org.au/hp/information-sheets/185-what-is-menopause">Menopause typically occurs in women around 51 years of age</a>. Prior to this women also pass through a period of peri-menopause where symptoms are apparent. These include fatigue, hot flushes, sleep disruption, irregular and unpredictable bleeding, urinary issues and mood swings. In all, menopausal symptoms generally last from four to eight years.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chemical-messengers-how-hormones-change-through-menopause-56921">Chemical messengers: how hormones change through menopause</a>
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<p>This directly relates to the workforce in Australia because the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4125.0%7ESep%202017%7EMain%20Features%7EEconomic%20Security%7E4">participation of women over 45 years of age is steadily increasing</a>, particularly in the 55-64 age group. Between 1999 and 2012, this group’s workforce participation rate <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4102.0">grew by a staggering 23%</a>.</p>
<p>While workplaces in Australia have slowly incorporated the needs of pregnant and breastfeeding mothers into their cultures, those at the other end of the journey are neither acknowledged nor understood.</p>
<h2>What do we know about menopause and work?</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://womenworkandthemenopause.com/menopause-and-the-workplace">large study</a> of women over 40 working at Australian universities was conducted in 2013-14. It’s one of the few to examine this issue locally.</p>
<p>This research showed that menopause did not necessarily affect job performance. But there was a strong link between the severity of symptoms and reduced engagement and satisfaction with work – as well as a higher intention to quit work. </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, these reactions can have negative impacts on career aspirations. A 2013 report, <a href="https://www.dca.org.au/research/project/older-women-matter">Older Women Matter: Harnessing the talents of Australia’s older female workforce</a>, examined the issue of attracting and retaining older women in Australian workplaces. While not directly about menopause, this report argued that employers could reap significant benefits by examining their strategies and policies for employees in this demographic.</p>
<p>Studies overseas, particularly in the UK, have more comprehensively explored the link between workplace performance and menopause. It is generally agreed that women are often able to conceal their symptoms and manage their workloads. Yet they often do so at their own personal expense. </p>
<p><a href="http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2899/1/Talbert_Dissertation-Complete.pdf">One study</a> found that only a quarter of respondents felt comfortable enough to discuss their menopausal symptoms with their line managers. Most believed it was a personal and private matter. Other reasons for non-disclosure included the belief that it had no impact on their work, and their manager being male and being embarrassed.</p>
<p>The consensus then is that this important group of employees need support so that menopausal symptoms can be discussed and managed. That in turn means employees can be retained and developed. But how do employers make this happen?</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-menopause-dreaded-derided-and-seldom-discussed-85281">The menopause: dreaded, derided and seldom discussed</a>
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</em>
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<h2>A case study – Nottinghamshire Police</h2>
<p>When Detective Constable Keely Mansell was faced with <a href="https://jeanhailes.org.au/health-a-z/menopause/premature-early-menopause">early onset menopause</a> at the age of 38, she was at a loss about how to manage her symptoms in her male-dominated workplace. She left the UK police force for a short time. After finding a treatment that worked for her, she returned to work and developed Nottinghamshire Police’s <a href="https://www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/document/menopause-managers-guide-pg50">Menopause Managers Guide</a>, which was introduced in 2017. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226862/original/file-20180710-122259-rcqrm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226862/original/file-20180710-122259-rcqrm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226862/original/file-20180710-122259-rcqrm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226862/original/file-20180710-122259-rcqrm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226862/original/file-20180710-122259-rcqrm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226862/original/file-20180710-122259-rcqrm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226862/original/file-20180710-122259-rcqrm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/226862/original/file-20180710-122259-rcqrm6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=701&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Breaking the workplace taboo on talking about and managing menopause symptoms will improve employee satisfaction and retention, to the benefit of all.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/smiling-female-aged-company-executive-team-1032686050?src=KbB_G--7rSPjHAKIXIFwtA-1-2">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The aim of the policy is to “create an environment where women feel confident enough to raise issues about their symptoms and ask for adjustments at work”. The guide explains menopause in simple language and includes information about diagnosis and treatment options.</p>
<p>The policy suggests a range of practical steps to support women going through menopause. These including: increased frequency of breaks; access to toilet facilities; adjustment to uniform and workspaces; and flexible working arrangements. </p>
<p>Nottinghamshire Police is not the only UK employer responding to this emerging workplace issue. Other organisations seeking to support and educate staff through menopause policies are <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/marks-spencer-recruiting-women-from-different-backgrounds">Marks & Spencer</a>, <a href="https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/hr/policies/health/menopause">Leicester University</a>, <a href="https://menopauseintheworkplace.co.uk/case-studies/menopause-severn-trent/">Severn Trent Water</a> and energy company <a href="https://www.eonenergy.com/about-eon/media-centre/eon-becomes-britains-first-menopause-friendly-energy-company/">E.ON</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-reasons-employers-need-to-recognise-the-menopause-at-work-82543">Three reasons employers need to recognise the menopause at work</a>
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<h2>What can Australian organisations do?</h2>
<p>Careers need not be stilted or threatened by the impact of menopause. Even though there is no “typical” menopause, some easy and inexpensive workplace adjustments can be made to help with symptoms. </p>
<p>Most importantly, an open dialogue needs to be established so employees aren’t placed under further stress by trying to conceal menopause symptoms. This may be done through workplace and managerial training and health promotion programs. </p>
<p>In addition, simple physical changes to the workplace can be made. Examples include providing easy access to fans and/or temperature control for women experiencing hot flushes, and providing adequate toilet and personal spaces for affected women to seek short-term refuge. Flexible working hours and other arrangements can also help with managing symptoms, including fatigue from sleep disruption.</p>
<p>Changes like these assist in meeting the organisation’s occupational health and safety obligations. Just as crucially, they are instrumental in communicating the workplace’s commitment to its employees’ health and well-being. This in turn will improve employee retention and satisfaction, far beyond the time when menopausal symptoms are present. </p>
<p>Indeed, researchers are working to further understand the impacts on the careers and progression of women in Australia with a view to increasing awareness of the ramifications of menopause in the workplace.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98860/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth McPhail does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Workforce participation rates for older women have increased greatly, but most workplaces have yet to realise the benefits of helping them to manage the impacts of menopause.Ruth McPhail, Head of Department of Employment Relations & Human Resources, and Professor, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/988522018-07-02T03:33:28Z2018-07-02T03:33:28ZEmployment services aren’t working for older jobseekers, jobactive staff or employers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225274/original/file-20180628-112601-7e834f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">While the federal government promotes the employment of older people through the jobactive network, in practice it's not working well for them.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://blog.jobactive.gov.au/why-recruiting-mature-age-workers-makes-good-business-sense">Australian Government/jobactive</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While the <a href="https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/employment/connecting-people-with-jobs-key-issues-for-raising-labour-market-participation-in-australia_9789264269637-en#page31%5D">mature-age unemployment rate is low</a> compared to youth unemployment, <a href="http://library.bsl.org.au/jspui/bitstream/1/7905/4/Workforce_vulnerabilities_in_midlife_and_beyond_research_summary_2015.pdf">older people are more likely to remain unemployed</a>. The <a href="https://www.sharethepie.com.au/">low rate of Newstart Allowance</a> means they are doing it tough. Our two-year study, <a href="https://www.bsl.org.au/research/projects/enhancing-employment-services-for-mature-age-jobseekers/">Enhancing employment services for mature-age jobseekers</a>, suggests government-funded employment services are not working well for these older jobseekers, the services’ staff or employers. </p>
<p>We also identify steps that need to be taken to ensure that future contracts for employment service provider contracts do find work for these jobseekers.</p>
<p>With the pension age rising to 67 by July 2023, people are being encouraged to keep working for longer. But they must also contend with the changes wrought by a <a href="https://www.workingforeveryone.com.au/world-of-work-has-changed/">40-year shift</a> towards fewer low-skilled manual jobs, increased requirements for post-compulsory educational qualifications, and more casual, contract, labour-hire and part-time jobs. Technological change, with automation of routine jobs, increased global market competition and the offshoring of jobs, and social change, with more women in the labour force, have combined to dramatically reshape the labour market.</p>
<h2>What’s wrong with employment services?</h2>
<p>For-profit and not-for-profit providers deliver the current iteration of government-funded employment services, <a href="https://www.jobs.gov.au/jobactive">jobactive</a>, under contract to the federal Department of Employment. The contract ends in 2020.</p>
<p>Our research into how older jobseekers are faring with jobactive providers focused on four regions with high rates of mature-age unemployment: western Melbourne, north-eastern Melbourne, south-eastern Melbourne and the inner city. We interviewed 30 mature-age jobseekers (<a href="http://library.bsl.org.au/showitem.php?handle=1/10835">defined as 45 or older</a>), 32 jobactive staff and 21 employers and key stakeholders.</p>
<p>Older jobseekers need help from jobactive providers to identify transferable skills. They also need training linked to job opportunities. As Daisy, in her later 50s, explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We want to stay off unemployment and we want to feel like a human being, a contributing human being.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And that means “helping us find jobs that fit our skills and our strengths”.</p>
<p>Instead, jobseekers’ appointments are dominated by paperwork. </p>
<p>Jobactive <a href="http://library.bsl.org.au/showitem.php?handle=1/10836">employment services staff</a> want to help older jobseekers. But they told us they do not have enough time or resources to do this because of the burdens of contractual compliance and high caseloads. An employment consultant explained the pressures:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We’re meant to make sure their job plan’s suitable, we’re meant to refer them to positions … We’ve got on the database, we’re meant to scan their job search, calculate their job search for Centrelink — there’s a lot you’ve got to do in 30 minutes. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Compliance with the contract and enforcing Centrelink’s <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/enablers/mutual-obligation-requirements/29751">“mutual obligation” requirements</a> sometimes get in the way of better supporting jobseekers. </p>
<p>The employers we interviewed had little awareness or understanding of jobactive as a public employment service. This limited awareness is reflected in the <a href="https://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/the_australian_recruitment_industry_accessible_version_august_2016_final.pdf">low use of employment services by employers</a>.</p>
<p>Few of the <a href="http://library.bsl.org.au/showitem.php?handle=1/10837">employers we interviewed</a> use jobactive. Some said they were reluctant to use jobactive (if they knew about it at all).</p>
<p>This was because of concern “about the type of candidate they’re going to get”. Employers were cautious about recruiting any age group through publicly funded employment services, because they were peppered with unsuitable job applicants. One employer said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Don’t give me 12 people that actually don’t want to work. KPIs in that area don’t work for employers. If they’re not right, they’re not right, so don’t waste your time … We stopped working with a provider because they were doing … the KPI, tick-a-box thing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As another employer who used jobactive told his employment service provider: “Don’t give me a lemon when I’m after apples.”</p>
<h2>How can these services be improved?</h2>
<p>Employment services face many challenges in promoting older jobseekers to employers who may be reluctant to take on staff they perceive as <a href="https://mspgh.unimelb.edu.au/ageing-industry-network/newsletter-issue-7-june-2017/ageism-isnt-as-simple-as-it-seems">“rusty” or “threatening”</a>. Programs such as the now-defunct <a href="https://olderworkers.com.au/news/corporate-champions/">Corporate Champions</a> can help to promote the benefits of age-diverse workforces among employers. However, these run the risk of <a href="https://percapita.org.au/our_work/whats-age-got-to-do-with-it/">reinforcing age stereotypes</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://library.bsl.org.au/showitem.php?handle=1/10838">Our research</a> finds that flexible, tailored support is required to help older jobseekers into sustainable employment. This need not involve special programs. Instead, it will be important to build on the insights from the <a href="https://www.jobs.gov.au/career-transition-assistance">Career Transition Assistance Program</a>, the expansion of the <a href="https://www.jobs.gov.au/national-work-experience-programme">National Work Experience Program</a> and the establishment of <a href="https://www.jobs.gov.au/pathway-work-pilots">Pathway to Work Pilots</a>. </p>
<p>These features should be integrated into the <a href="https://www.jobs.gov.au/future-employment-services">next employment services contract</a>. The next contract should allow more flexible and tailored responses to cohorts such as mature-age jobseekers. This can be achieved through smaller caseloads, more time to work with jobseekers and less time on compliance. </p>
<p>Tackling the challenges of mature-age unemployment requires better matching of candidates with vacancies. A skills assessment should be undertaken with all older jobseekers. This will identify transferable skills and enable better matching with vacancies and with training. </p>
<p>Staff also need training, especially in identification of transferable skills and career guidance. </p>
<p>Small changes can have big impacts. For example, jobseekers should be able to fulfil their mutual obligation requirements through volunteering that is relevant to their experience. </p>
<p>But broader policy change is needed too. In particular, we need a focus on fostering local economic development that creates jobs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dina Bowman is a Principal Research Fellow in the Research and Policy Centre at the Brotherhood of St Laurence. In that capacity she receives funding from Financial Literacy Australia, ANZ and the Brotherhood of St Laurence, This study was funded by the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation—Eldon & Anne Foote Trust (Innovation Grant 2015). She is a member of Per Capita's research advisory group.</span></em></p>A two-year study finds dissatisfaction with current arrangements, but also identifies small changes that can make a big difference in helping to find suitable jobs for older workers.Dina Bowman, Principal Research Fellow, Research & Policy Centre, Brotherhood of St Laurence, and Honorary Senior Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/944842018-04-08T19:51:05Z2018-04-08T19:51:05ZWhy mandatory retirement ages should be a thing of the past<p>Mandatory retirement ages are – rightly – mostly a thing of the past in Australia. But they still linger both formally and informally in some sectors and roles. This is of major concern for a country with an ageing population, such as Australia.</p>
<p>Compulsory retirement ages have been <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ElderLawRw/2004/10.html">progressively</a> <a href="http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ada2004174/s18.html">prohibited</a> in Australia since the 1990s. There are good reasons for this: reliance on irrational stereotypes about older workers can prevent businesses from finding <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/binaries/hansard/reps/dailys/dr260603.pdf">the best person for the job</a>. Allowing workers to choose when they retire can improve staff retention, increase workforce morale, and help employers retain vital skills and experience.</p>
<p>At a national level, prohibiting mandatory retirement can help relieve the burden of an ageing workforce on pension systems. It also promotes labour market supply and removes <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/binaries/hansard/reps/dailys/dr260603.pdf">barriers to older people participating in society</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/keeping-mature-age-workers-on-the-job-85678">Keeping mature-age workers on the job</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Abolishing mandatory retirement can reduce welfare expenditure and increase <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/disability-rights/publications/willing-work-national-inquiry-employment-discrimination">self-reliance</a>. Importantly, it recognises the inherent worth and dignity of workers of all ages, and sends a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/binaries/hansard/reps/dailys/dr260603.pdf">strong national message about the importance of ending age discrimination</a>.</p>
<h2>Where mandatory retirement remains</h2>
<p>Federal Australian judges must retire at the age of 70, as outlined in section 72 of the Australian Constitution. While section 72 does not generally apply to state or territory courts, all states and territories also impose a retirement age for their judges. These range between ages 65 and 72. </p>
<p>The Australian Defence Force has also maintained a mandatory retirement age of <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/2-recruitment-and-employment-law/compulsory-retirement">60 for personnel and 65 for reservists</a>, though this can be extended on a case-by-case basis.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213348/original/file-20180405-189830-1mmhfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213348/original/file-20180405-189830-1mmhfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213348/original/file-20180405-189830-1mmhfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213348/original/file-20180405-189830-1mmhfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213348/original/file-20180405-189830-1mmhfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213348/original/file-20180405-189830-1mmhfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/213348/original/file-20180405-189830-1mmhfjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In Australia, federal court judges have a mandatory retirement age of 70.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=Dz0UiWFEhR8Wnxn16_kITQ-1-83">Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Overseas, some countries still allow mandatory retirement. The UK, for example, allows employers to justify a mandatory retirement age for their workforce. The <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2010-0201.html">UK Supreme Court</a> has identified two broad categories of legimitate justification: intergenerational fairness and dignity.</p>
<p>Retirement provisions have been retained by some UK universities, including <a href="https://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/personnel/end/retirement/acrelretire/">Oxford</a> and <a href="https://www.hr.admin.cam.ac.uk/policies-procedures/1-retirement-policy">Cambridge</a>. These organisations have claimed that retirement ages are justified by very low turnover, which may limit progression for other staff. They also cite the need to increase staff diversity, refresh the workforce, and facilitate succession planning.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-could-make-the-retirement-system-more-sustainable-78185">How we could make the retirement system more sustainable</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3157431">My research on how Australian universities</a> are operating without mandatory retirement shows that there has been an increase in the number of academics working longer. The percentage of total academic staff at Australian universities aged over 64 increased from 0.96% in 1997 to 4.66% in 2012. </p>
<p>Extending academics’ working lives may be affecting the employment prospects of younger academics, particularly in relation to the availability of permanent academic posts at junior levels. Overall, though, there have been few negative impacts from the removal of mandatory retirement ages in universities. </p>
<p>I found Australian universities value the experience and skills of their older academic workforce, and explicitly reject any link between age and declining performance.</p>
<h2>Judicial retirement ages</h2>
<p>Even for the judiciary, mandatory retirement ages are outdated and inefficient. When they were introduced at the federal level in 1977, retirement ages were intended to “contemporise” the courts by introducing new people and ideas. They were designed to prevent declining performance on the bench and provide opportunities for younger judges.</p>
<p>But the workforce and our attitudes to older workers have changed since 1977. <a href="http://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/2061019/02-Blackham.pdf">My research found that</a> mandatory retirement ages for judges are inconsistent with modern workplace practices and are contrary to the desire for age equality. There is no evidence that older judges are “out of touch”, and age is a bad predictor of individual capacity. </p>
<p>Instead, judicial retirement ages may deprive the courts of expertise and experience. Retirement ages also appear to be contrary to the wishes of judges themselves. Justice Graham Bell, who retired from the Family Court of Australia on 20 February 2015, was <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/judges-put-to-pasture-too-early-says-bell/news-story/39a2a9f640fd24495a200a0947c2129a">quoted as saying</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>These days 70 is equal to 60 or 55. … Judges should be able to go on till 80 provided they pass a medical inspection. After all, the pension makes judges pretty expensive creatures in retirement. They are sent out to pasture too early.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What’s more, judicial retirement ages are largely unnecessary in practice. Judges are entitled to generous pensions and often retire of their own accord. New judges will still be given opportunities even if we remove mandatory retirement ages.</p>
<h2>Informal retirement pressures</h2>
<p>Where mandatory retirement has been officially removed, there can still be pressure to retire at a certain age. <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3157431">My research</a> found that some Australian universities may be using potentially discriminatory methods (such as redundancy) to manage an ageing workforce.</p>
<p>A significant proportion of older Australian workers report experiencing age discrimination. In 2014, over a quarter (27%) of Australians aged 50 years and over <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/age-discrimination/publications/national-prevalence-survey-age-discrimination-workplace">reported</a> experiencing age discrimination in employment in the last two years. </p>
<p>Given these findings, in 2016 the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) conducted <a href="http://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/disability-rights/publications/willing-work-national-inquiry-employment-discrimination">a national inquiry</a> into discrimination against older workers. It recommended a suite of changes including discrimination law reforms and appointing a cabinet minister for longevity.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/age-discrimination-in-the-workplace-happening-to-people-as-young-as-45-study-76095">Age discrimination in the workplace happening to people as young as 45: study</a>
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<p><a href="https://search-informit-com-au.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=177621836027451;res=IELAPA">Previous studies</a> have suggested that declining numbers of older men in the workforce are mostly due to employer constraints, not constraints on the part of older workers. This suggests the need for a shift in employers’ attitudes towards older workers, to encourage continued participation.</p>
<h2>Why mandatory retirement ages are inefficient</h2>
<p>With an ageing population, Australia cannot afford to lose skilled workers prematurely. In 2013, the <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/completed/ageing-australia">Productivity Commission</a> estimated that overall labour supply per capita will fall by nearly 5% by 2059–60 due to demographic ageing. The commission concluded that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A period of truly diminished outcomes is likely to be at hand, unless luck or appropriate policy initiatives intervene.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One of the key policy measures available to address this looming issue is to increase workforce participation rates for older workers. Eliminating the last vestiges of mandatory retirement is an obvious first step.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94484/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alysia Blackham receives funding from the Australian Research Council as part of the Discovery Early Career Researcher scheme: DE170100228, ‘Addressing Age Discrimination in Employment’. </span></em></p>Mandatory retirement ages are mostly a thing of the past in Australia. Removing the last vestiges of this practice is one way to address the problem of Australia’s ageing workforce.Alysia Blackham, Senior Lecturer in Law and ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/786062017-06-08T04:56:31Z2017-06-08T04:56:31ZFive ways older Australians can embrace technology to redefine later life<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172205/original/file-20170605-31037-gspqs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Technology offers older Australians a wealth of ways to redefine later life.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/senior-laptop-focus-on-hand-94651387?src=iW8Q1xRgH5yzpy52OahHxw-1-31">www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the traditional Australian retirement <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/age-pension">age of 65</a>, men can now <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/deaths/life-expectancy/">look forward to</a> another 20 years of life, and women another 22 years. </p>
<p>This shift, alongside advances in digital technology, was the starting point for <a href="https://research.csiro.au/lifelong/lifelong-participation/">our report</a>, which seeks to start a national conversation about ageing, work and participation. By 2031, it’s projected around <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3222.0main+features52012%20(base)%20to%202101">one in five Australians</a> will be 65 years old or over. We must leverage the capacity and energy of older Australians, but how?</p>
<p>Over the course of 38 interviews with industry stakeholders, it became clear that digital technologies such as internet-connected devices and online communication tools could have an enabling effect.</p>
<p>But the research also highlights obstacles. People who are 65 years or older currently have <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8146.0">the lowest level of engagement</a> with the internet. As face-to-face consultation is swapped for cost-effective online health services, older people could become isolated. And while new jobs in the so-called “sharing economy”, like driving for Uber, offer flexible sources of income for retirees, they’re also <a href="https://theconversation.com/sacked-uber-driver-case-shows-driver-vulnerability-under-law-59677">more precarious</a> than traditional employment.</p>
<p><a href="https://federation.edu.au/research/research-areas/research-centres-and-networks/australian-retirement-research-institute-arri/people/leader/professor-philip-taylor">Professor Philip Taylor</a> of Federation University, an expert on the relationship between age and the labour market, said the aim is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…equipping people to respond well to changes in their environment over their working lives, rather than … assuming at the age of 55 we can stick you on some sort of scheme and hope for the best. That takes a massive rethink of learning and training in Australia.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Drawing upon examples provided by experts from across civil society, industry and research institutions, we identify five ways digital technology could change our experiences and opportunities in later life. </p>
<h2>1. Minimise the impact of physical and cognitive ageing</h2>
<p>In the future, rather than retreating to institutions, older Australians could live in smart, connected homes that discretely monitor their daily routines and health status. Automated transport systems and mobility-focused technology, including exoskeletons, could also help people remain mobile.</p>
<p>Assistive technologies will allow people to remain active in the workforce for longer. Chief executive of Suncare Community Services, Russell Mason, described a young man who was confined to a wheelchair with cerebral palsy but running his own video-editing business using a switch device. </p>
<p>On the other hand, those who are less skilled or comfortable with such technology, <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8146.0">often older workers</a>, will likely have more difficulty retaining and finding such employment.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">An exoskeleton built by Hyundai.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>2. Bridge geographic distance</h2>
<p>Digital technology can remove geographic barriers by enabling instant communication and sharing of data. Older people can stay in touch with family over Skype, or connect with doctors via telehealth conferencing. Citizen science platforms <a href="https://www.zooniverse.org/">like Zooniverse</a> allow people to participate in global research teams from their home. </p>
<p>However, reliance on online communication should not come at the expense of in-person interaction. Such connections need to be valued and supported if we do not want older people to become isolated.</p>
<h2>3. Harness social, intellectual and financial capital</h2>
<p>Digital technologies allow us to use the assets acquired over a lifetime in new ways. New marketplaces such as Uber, Ebay, Airtasker and Airbnb could help generate income from under-used items, whether a car, power tools, a skillset or spare rooms.</p>
<p>But the digital economy is similar to the traditional economy – income-generating opportunities are greatest for those with specialised skills or sought after assets. Older people with more limited means could be disadvantaged if we don’t create opportunities for them to generate a sustainable income in this new economy.</p>
<h2>4. Deliver information and education</h2>
<p>As automation takes over tasks currently performed by human workers, older people will be vulnerable. Studies suggest they tend to be more affected by <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2010.02392.x/full">technology-driven downsizing</a> and are often less likely <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ser/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/ser/mwu023">to find alternative employment</a>. </p>
<p>For those older workers who need to retrain, the ability to access education via online channels will be critical. </p>
<p>Digital technology is being used <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-online-education-good-or-bad-and-is-this-really-the-right-question-35949">to enrich the educational environment</a> (for example, using simulation and augmented reality tools) and to allow students to access course material at the time and location of their choosing.</p>
<p>For those that want to keep learning for its own sake, some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, including <a href="https://www.class-central.com/university/stanford">Stanford University</a>, now offer Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that allow anyone to access lectures and course content.</p>
<h2>5. Make connections</h2>
<p>Digital technology can also facilitate new connections by linking people with similar interests and needs. In this way, it can allow people to work more flexibly, find a soulmate, or contribute to a global task force. </p>
<p>Digital platforms empower individuals to start their own microbusiness by linking them with clients and niche markets. The <a href="https://bettercaring.com.au/">Better Caring</a> platform, for example, enables personalised care and support arrangements for the disabled community and older people by matching the needs and location of clients and workers. </p>
<h2>Realising the potential</h2>
<p>Some of the experts we interviewed believe the disruptive impact of digital technology has the potential to transform our experience of later life. </p>
<p><a href="http://staff.qut.edu.au/staff/kowalkie/">Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz</a>, PwC Chair in Digital Economy at Queensland University of Technology, was one such participant. He said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Getting retired means being able to pursue completely new dreams, finally having impact on the world… Maybe moving from what most of us do, which is trying to fulfil the expectations of society by getting a job, having children, building a house and so on, to living your life to its fullest.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our report is intended to raise awareness of the opportunities and the risks, and start a national discussion about lifelong participation in a digitally enabled society.</p>
<p>Florida State University’s <a href="https://pepperinstitute.fsu.edu/directory/dawn-carr">Professor Dawn Carr</a> posed the challenge this way:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What do we care about, what are our values, what do we seek to accomplish… what is science telling us for having a really good life and then how can technology facilitate that?</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78606/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Mason does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australians are living longer, and digital technologies could help them take control of retirement.Claire Mason, Data61 Senior Social Scientist, CSIROLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/760952017-04-26T20:14:27Z2017-04-26T20:14:27ZAge discrimination in the workplace happening to people as young as 45: study<p>Almost a third of Australians perceived some form of age-related discrimination while employed or looking for work in the last 12 months - starting as early as 45 years of age, <a href="http://www.unisabusinessschool.edu.au/research/cwex/our-research/projects/">our study finds</a>. </p>
<p>We conducted a national survey of 2,100 men and women aged 45 years and over, and 100 telephone interviews. The most common form of perceived discrimination was negative assumptions about older workers’ skills, learning abilities or cognition.</p>
<p>Survey participants also reported limited or no opportunities for promotion or training, working in an organisation that undervalued them and difficulty securing work due to age.</p>
<p>Our findings align with <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/age-discrimination/publications/national-prevalence-survey-age-discrimination-workplace">previous research from the Australian Human Rights Commission</a> where 27% of Australians aged 50 years and over had recent experience of age-based discrimination in the workplace. In this survey the most common forms were limited employment, promotion or training opportunities and perceptions that older people have outdated skills or are too slow to learn new things.</p>
<p>Older adults in our study described a subtle pressure from their colleagues and management to stop working in order to “make room for the younger generation”. This was regardless of their experience, enduring capabilities or working preferences.</p>
<p>Workers also faced patronising attitudes, where employers or colleagues assumed they would struggle to pick up new technology or work systems quickly, due to their age. Some survey participants felt they were not afforded the same promotional or training opportunities as their younger colleagues. </p>
<p><a href="http://bcec.edu.au/publications/gendered-analysis-age-discrimination-among-older-jobseekers-australia">Experiences differed</a> for men and women in our survey. Men were more likely to suggest discrimination based on assumptions about their physical abilities or working pace, and women reported the organisation they worked for undervaluing older workers as a group. </p>
<p>To avoid discrimination interviewees reported using strategies such as minimising health conditions, concealing their age or maintaining a “youthful” appearance.</p>
<p>Although there has been some <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/study-finds-most-people-in-the-ad-industry-think-its-an-ageist-sector-2016-11?r=US&IR=">research</a> into <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/expertise/ageism-still-alive-and-well-in-it-20150208-139eyj.html0">industry specific</a> experiences of age discrimination, there are limited comparisons in research of prevalence and type of discrimination between <a href="http://library.bsl.org.au/jspui/bitstream/1/3568/1/Age%20discrimination%20in%20the%20labour%20market_NSPAC%20June%202013%20Full.pd">industries</a>. </p>
<p>Our data indicates that age related discrimination traverses all industries in worrying proportions. Industries where age discrimination was particularly common included construction, administrative services, education, manufacturing, essential services, information technology and professional service industries.</p>
<h2>Hiring and firing of older workers</h2>
<p>Over two thirds of retirees in our study, who had experienced age related discrimination, attributed their retirement to involuntary factors such as “having no choice”, redundancy or dismissal. Negative experiences at work (with a colleague, management or client) or dissatisfaction with organisational changes were often the trigger events for retirement.</p>
<p>Older job seekers reported being candidly or surreptitiously rejected through <a href="http://library.bsl.org.au/jspui/bitstream/1/3568/1/Age%20discrimination%20in%20the%20labour%20market_NSPAC%20June%202013%20Full.pdf">recruitment processes</a> on the basis of age alone. Education, training and a steady working history were not guaranteed to help study participants in their <a href="https://www.intheblack.com/articles/2016/10/01/fighting-ageism-overlooked-benefits-older-workers">search for employment</a>. </p>
<p>Some interviewees had found it necessary to accept work for which they felt overqualified. Job seeker services in particular were considered ill-equipped to assist older, highly experienced and often well-educated adults. </p>
<p>These findings are in line with similar <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/Fact%20or%20Fiction_2013_WebVersion_FINAL_0.pdf">research</a> in which study participants interpreted suggestions from potential employees that they were over qualified or experienced for a role, to mean they were “too old”. </p>
<p>Our interviewees believed that younger managers can feel intimidated by older workers. This may be based on concerns regarding an older employee’s ability to take instruction from somebody younger, learn new work methods and technologies or readily adopt change.</p>
<h2>Why we should fight age discrimination</h2>
<p>Beyond the moral and ethical issues of how older adults are treated, the experiences recorded in our study can have tangible implications for individuals and employers.</p>
<p>The government is trying to reduce dependency on the aged care pension by encouraging workers to stay in the workforce longer and accumulate sufficient superannuation (and other assets). Employment in high quality work can support and protect the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27561448">health</a> of men and women as they age. </p>
<p>But adults who feel devalued in their workplace, or unable to find suitable employment, are more likely to enter retirement earlier than anticipated and less inclined to <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6220.0September%202013?OpenDocument">re-enter the workforce</a>. </p>
<p>Our survey results also suggest that people experiencing work-related ageism tend to report poorer health, lower household incomes and lower total superannuation fund balances, than those who have not had this experience.</p>
<p>Mature aged workers bring with them a range of <a href="https://www.intheblack.com/articles/2016/10/01/fighting-ageism-overlooked-benefits-older-workers">favourable characteristics</a> such as stability, reliability, loyalty, experience, wisdom and maturity. One way to tackle work related ageism is to firstly address negative perceptions regarding the competency of older workers.</p>
<p>This may be best addressed by employment services and human resource staff who are often on the front line of helping these workers find suitable employment. These workers can be skilled to respond to the needs of mature age job seekers. The introduction or reinforcement of policies supporting diversity in the workplace is another important step to support older worker participation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76095/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Work, Care, Health and Retirement: Ageing Agenders Project is jointly funded by the Australian Research Council, Women in Super, and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. Project input and support has been provided by Cbus, HESTA and CareSuper industry superannuation funds.</span></em></p>Older workers are feeling discriminated against in the search for work, in their jobs and even in retirement, a new survey shows.Justine Irving, Researcher older workers, retirement and ageism, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/643022016-08-23T20:19:52Z2016-08-23T20:19:52ZBusiness Briefing: Simon McKeon on removing the retirement label<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135128/original/image-20160823-30228-wqlqj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Those who want to work longer should be given the option to, McKeon argues.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Former Treasurer Joe Hockey did not get a warm reception when he confirmed the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pension-age-is-rising-to-70-a-case-of-one-size-fits-some-25537">retirement age would increase to 70</a> by 2035. But Monash University Chancellor Simon McKeon thinks its not such a bad thing. </p>
<p>He argues if Australians are productive well into their later lives, why should they be stuck with a label of being incapable of working past a certain age? After all, older age is a meaningful part of many people’s lives.</p>
<p>McKeon says business, government and not-for-profit all need to take a different view of the usefulness of older people. The changing nature of jobs, including a bigger role for technology, shouldn’t be an excuse not employ older workers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64302/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
If we're all living longer, why shouldn't we be allowed to work longer? That's what Monash Chancellor Simon McKeon is arguing.Jenni Henderson, Section Editor: Business + EconomyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/624882016-07-21T01:55:38Z2016-07-21T01:55:38ZGrey dawn or the twilight years? Let’s talk about growing old<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130819/original/image-20160718-2110-3sjkb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">All hail the 'silver surfer'. But other terms used to describe older Australians are not so complimentary.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The most recent <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/national-press-club/">National Press Club forum on aged care</a> has once again put the spotlight on the “longevity revolution” and attitudes towards Australia’s ageing population.</p>
<h2>Australia as a ‘youthful’ society</h2>
<p>The word ageism – “prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age” – made its first appearance in 1969 in the Washington Post. So it’s an American invention. But what about the concept it refers to – does the concept of ageism have any Australian roots? </p>
<p>Social history research like that by <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10880686?q&versionId=12713014">Graeme Davison</a> suggests a resounding “yes”. </p>
<p>Ageism appeared in the early colonial period, and was fuelled by Australia’s perception of itself as a “young society”. The use of <em>young</em> was doubly justified: it contrasted with <em>old</em> in “the Old Country” (as Britain was commonly referred to), and it also emphasised the high percentage of young people in the population. Nuclear families in early colonial Australia consisted of parents and their children, where the latter often grew up not ever knowing their grandparents.</p>
<p>Characteristics associated with youth – both positive (energy, vigour, optimism), and negative (immaturity, unruliness, disrespect for elders) – became accepted as national traits. By the end of the 19th century, Melbourne-based journalist John Stanley James made note of the ageist tendencies of Australian contemporary society: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Neither privately nor publicly have the Old Folks that consideration shown to them here [in Australia] which is evidenced in Europe and Great Britain. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>So how are “the old folks” viewed more than a century after James? We’ve been trawling through Australian newspapers to find out how the media portrays “ageing Australians” today.</p>
<h2>A problem that ‘isn’t going away’</h2>
<p>It’s common to read about older people being a “burden” on both carers and social services (hence the impending “aged-care crisis”), as well as on the economy as a whole. The National Press Club forum’s title says it all:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Aged Care Conundrum: Meeting The Care Needs of an Ageing Population Without Blowing the Budget. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>And as moderator Katharine Murphy pointed out, “this problem isn’t going away”.</p>
<p>The growing proportion of older people within the total population, described as “grandpa boom” (or “elderly boom”), places intense “pressures” on both individuals and families, and also threatens to “bankrupt” society (in the form of a “social Armageddon” – to quote a yet-more-extreme phrase). </p>
<p>In this scenario, older people are essentially viewed as frail and ill. They’re often abused (hence the term “elder abuse”), and need legal protection in the form of “elder law”. </p>
<p>In this scenario, older people are unable to care for themselves and thus create an “elderly burden” that can be combated by extending the “retirement age” and establishing “granny crèches” (adult daycare centres). This is so that the “sandwich generation” (those stuck between having to care for dependent parents and dependent children) can keep on working. </p>
<h2>‘Zuppies’ and ‘zoomers’</h2>
<p>It’s a grim scenario contrasting with Australia’s <em>zuppies</em> and <em>zoomers</em>, two recent colloquial expressions for the ageing and active baby boomer. (<em>Zuppy</em> means Zestful Upscale Person in their Prime, while <em>zoomer</em> is anamalgam of <em>boomer</em> and <em>zip</em>, also playing on <em>zoom</em>.)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fs2QKDjwvI">“Gerontolescence”</a> does away with the image of the frail and dependent “ageing Australian”, and instead depicts the “senior boom” as a “grey revolution”. Older people are seen as a “greying army” or “grey brigade” – a formidable entity who fight for “grey power” (also the name of a political party representing older people’s rights). </p>
<p>The image of active and self-conscious seniors is also implied with the use of expressions like “healthy ageing” and “positive ageing”. These emphasise the individual’s responsibility in “ageing well” – something best achieved by maintaining a “portfolio lifestyle” that is divided among family responsibilities, volunteer work, and personal hobbies and interests. </p>
<p>The “new aged” can opt to live in “over-55s resorts” (the latest euphemism for a “retirement home”) and experience the “golden years” (the years of retirement) as a second chance at life. They are the “grey nomads” who travel around the country in their caravans and the “silver surfers” who are tech-savvy (and might even take up surfing as a hobby). </p>
<h2>Cashed-up working boomers</h2>
<p>Another scenario in ageing articles focuses on the highly valued skills and expertise of older people, which can be exploited in earnest in the workforce. This is the rise of “grey labour”, which helps diminish the labour-shortage crisis that is hitting Australia.</p>
<p>Within this discourse the elderly are respected for the knowledge they have accumulated over the years, hence the expression “mature-aged worker”. And yet plenty of workplaces are still not “mature age-friendly”, overlooking anyone above 55 years.</p>
<p>Longer employment results in more money that can be spent by “older consumers” (the “not-so-young shoppers” or the “cashed-up baby boomers”). These are the forgotten customers of the “grey market” who have plenty of “grey dollars” to dispose of and have significant influence on investment patterns. </p>
<h2>Senior sunset or greying dawn?</h2>
<p>What these words and expressions show is that alternative scenarios exist side-by-side in the media about older Australians. They are not necessarily compatible. </p>
<p>After all, somebody described as a “silver surfer” is hardly frail and in need of care. Conversely, the “economic burden” of the ageing population is at odds with the image of a “mature-age workforce”. These expressions are powerful. They can evoke the whole scenario they belong to, backgrounding other alternatives. </p>
<p>Undoubtedly, ageing has biological, social, political and economic aspects, but how we think (and feel) about it also boils down to how we talk about it: is it the start of the twilight years or the beginning of a grey dawn?</p>
<p>Here’s a <a href="http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/lsc/the-cultural-model-of-ageing-the-australian-conceptualisation-of-the-third-age/">list of ageing-related expressions</a>, collected from the Australian media from 1987. And if you’ve got ten minutes and are interested in completing a questionnaire on ageing and stereotypes in Australian English, please visit <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5X9BRGZ">this link</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62488/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our mixed feelings about ageing are clearly revealed in the language we use to talk about it.Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, Monash UniversityRéka Benczes, Research Fellow in Linguistics, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/554052016-03-09T08:12:55Z2016-03-09T08:12:55ZWhere people live influences whether they stop working before pension age<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113567/original/image-20160302-25891-qk9ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Goodluz/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The longer life expectancy of people in industrialised countries means governments are raising the ages at which citizens can <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/263942/35062_Autumn_Statement_2013.pdf">apply for state pensions</a>. </p>
<p>In the UK, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/221222/ihr13.pdf">state pension age</a> for both men and women is set to rise to 66 by October 2020, and 68 by 2046. Now the government has <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/01/state-pension-age-could-rise-faster-than-expected-say-experts">launched a review</a> to look at whether it should rise even higher in the future.</p>
<p>Currently, over half of the population <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/319948/fuller-working-lives-background-evidence.pdf">stops working before</a> they reach state pension age. Yet, those people who stop work before the retirement age don’t do so <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343400600757635?journalCode=cres20">at the same rate</a> across the country. The percentage of the British working age population claiming the Employment and Support allowance (formerly called incapacity benefit) tends to be <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/sn01420.pdf">highest in the north and lowest in the south and east of England</a>.</p>
<p>As governments plan for the future, and try to develop interventions to stop older people leaving their jobs before the retirement age, they need to know what factors are really causing these inequalities in what is called “worker retention”. </p>
<p>Previous studies in the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343400600757635">USA, UK,</a> <a href="http://sjp.sagepub.com/content/41/2/158?ijkey=4dc68a9dffcb3707224377ffcde6ca0074922f7d&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha">Norway</a> and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21183470?access_num=21183470&link_type=MED&dopt=Abstract">Iceland</a> have shown that in areas where there are more unemployed people, there also tend to be more people who receive disability pensions, suggesting that the two are linked. </p>
<p>But <a href="http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/02/27/eurpub.ckw005">our new research</a> has shown over the course of the last recession, this was not the case. People who left the workforce between 2001 and 2011 either did so because of their health, or because of the job market in the area where they lived – the two were not linked. </p>
<h2>What happens in a decade</h2>
<p>Colleagues from the <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/renewl">Research on Extended Working Lives (RenEWL) consortium</a> and <a href="https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=EMURR58">I</a> set out to address this issue using data from the <a href="http://celsius.lshtm.ac.uk/what.html">Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study</a> – a 1% representative sample of all people who answered the census in England and Wales.</p>
<p>We only included people in the study who were in work and aged 40-69 years at the 2001 census. We then assessed whether their work status had changed at the next census, in 2011. If the participants were not in work, they could identify themselves as being long-term sick or disabled, retired, a student, looking after their home or family, or “other”.</p>
<p>We <a href="http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/02/27/eurpub.ckw005">found that older workers</a> living in areas with higher unemployment in 2001 were less likely to be in work ten years later than people who lived in areas with lower unemployment. This was true both if the person had given the reason for being out of work in 2011 as sickness or disability, or if they had simply retired. </p>
<p>Overall, many more people in our study left the work force due to retirement rather than sickness or disability reasons (29% versus 3%). As the graph below shows, older people living in areas of high unemployment were around 1.7 times more likely to be out of work due to a long-term sickness or disability in 2011, and 1.2 times more likely to be retired, than those living in areas of low unemployment. But this did not necessarily mean that they left the workforce because of their disability. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113137/original/image-20160228-26716-8u1th0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113137/original/image-20160228-26716-8u1th0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113137/original/image-20160228-26716-8u1th0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113137/original/image-20160228-26716-8u1th0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113137/original/image-20160228-26716-8u1th0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113137/original/image-20160228-26716-8u1th0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113137/original/image-20160228-26716-8u1th0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Odds ratio of reporting being sick/disabled and retired in 2011, vs. in work, by local authority area unemployment conditions and individual.
health status in 2001.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>For health reasons</h2>
<p>We also looked at whether people with poor health, who are more likely to exit the work force over the decade, also tend to live in areas of high unemployment. Our study suggests not. We found that how healthy a person was could not explain why people in some areas left work earlier than those in other areas. Nor could this be explained by their gender, age, employment status (full-time or part-time), social class, ethnic group or whether they owned their own home.</p>
<p>In fact, among those respondents that identified as sick or disabled in 2011, those who rated their own health better were more likely to be out of work because of unemployment in their area. As the graph below shows, for people who had good and fairly good health, living in an area with higher unemployment meant that they were more likely to be out of work a decade later (the triangles move up). For people in poor health, they are out of work no matter where they live.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113139/original/image-20160228-26719-1ls5en9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113139/original/image-20160228-26719-1ls5en9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113139/original/image-20160228-26719-1ls5en9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113139/original/image-20160228-26719-1ls5en9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113139/original/image-20160228-26719-1ls5en9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113139/original/image-20160228-26719-1ls5en9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113139/original/image-20160228-26719-1ls5en9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Odds ratios of reporting being sick/disabled in 2011, vs. in work, stratified by local authority area unemployment conditions and individual health status in 2001.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is not to say that health was not a driver for people stopping work. Health was very strongly related to work force exit for all inactive groups, and people in poor health in 2001 were almost six times more likely not to be in work ten years later. But the overall picture seen in our study is that where people live and their health are not linked – they are independent predictors of whether older people stay in work.</p>
<p>Our study does not yet clarify exactly what is driving people in areas with higher unemployment to leave the work force. But in the current economic climate of austerity, these findings hold an important message: that policies and programmes designed to retain people in the workforce in the middle of their lives may be most effective if targeted to those areas of the country that already have higher unemployment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55405/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work is jointly funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and Medical Research Council under the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Cross-Council Programme initiative.</span></em></p>Health and local employment prospects both play a part in whether older workers stop working.Emily Murray, Senior Research Associate, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/530332016-03-04T11:17:48Z2016-03-04T11:17:48ZIt’s time to measure 21st century aging with 21st century tools<p>The populations of most countries of the world are aging, prompting a deluge of news stories about <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/10/business/economy/slower-economic-growth-is-seen-as-population-ages.html?_r=0">slower economic growth</a>, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/04/europes-real-crisis/308915/">reduced labor force participation</a>, looming <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-steven-friedman/chinas-dependency-ratio-t_b_5813344.html">pension crises</a>, exploding health care costs and the <a href="http://www.chinabusinessreview.com/can-an-aging-china-be-a-rising-china/">reduced productivity</a> and cognitive functioning of the elderly.</p>
<p>These stories are dire, in part because the most widely used measure of aging – <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/WorldPopulationAgeing2013.pdf">the old-age dependency ratio</a>, which measures the number of older dependents relative to working-age people – was developed a century ago and implies the consequences of aging will be much worse than they are likely to be. On top of that, this ratio is used in political and economic discussions of topics such as health care costs and the pension burden – things it was not designed to address.</p>
<p>Turning 65 in 2016 doesn’t mean the same thing as hitting 65 in 1916. So instead of relying on the old-age dependency ratio to figure out the impact of aging, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2015.00091.x/abstract">we propose using a series of new measures</a> that take changes in life expectancy, labor participation and health spending into account. When you take these new realities into account, the picture looks a lot brighter. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111850/original/image-20160217-24635-1d5m2wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111850/original/image-20160217-24635-1d5m2wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111850/original/image-20160217-24635-1d5m2wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111850/original/image-20160217-24635-1d5m2wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111850/original/image-20160217-24635-1d5m2wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111850/original/image-20160217-24635-1d5m2wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111850/original/image-20160217-24635-1d5m2wy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How facts from the census questionnaire were tabulated into statistics in 1950.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/3903231183/in/photolist-6WV5Dn-byTXaP-a58ct-7JU751-9tLWw2-9tMEmD-b3dXxp-8k8Z9E-7PKDz4-7PKDQ6-7Jzdhr-4WsxBz-9tRvam-6525aR-7LcKDh-8ts7WH-9u6atg-7XT2gn-7Q3qeb-7FKnEP-2bXUke-7LELwW-7XjHfJ-bkZ53m-druw9d-eVs7n7-7QfqLX-brzK9X-9uv6Ky-7L7u1d-byTX28-ghB4x-7X3EgA-7WZrYB-61Lr3x-bx1MzV-6UiFAb-B2Si8-fiDDK-7Nm9GT-4DVQXd-bkrVGp-dThoDL-aYLov8-heUSZ9-MoHVe-mnzgzR-pKJLEW-482VwJ-8rvf7b">The U.S. National Archives/Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Our tools to measure aging have aged</h2>
<p>The most commonly used measure of population aging is the “old-age dependency ratio,” which is the ratio of the number of people 65 years or older to those 20 to 64. </p>
<p>But, since the old-age dependency ratio was introduced in the early 1900s, most countries have experienced a century of rising life expectancy, and further increases are anticipated. </p>
<p>For instance, in 1914, life expectancy at birth in Sweden was 58.2 years (average for both sexes). By 2014, it had risen to <a href="http://www.mortality.org">82.2 years</a>. In 1935, when the U.S Social Security Act was signed into law, 65-year-olds were expected to live 12.7 more years, on average. In 2013, 65 year-olds may expect to live <a href="http://www.mortality.org">19.5 years more</a>.</p>
<p>But these changes aren’t reflected in the conventional statistics on aging. Nor is the fact that many people don’t just stop working when they turn 65, and that people are staying healthier for longer. </p>
<p>To get a better sense of what population aging really means today, we decided to develop <a href="http://www.reaging.org/indicators">a new set of measures</a> that take these new realities into account to replace the old-age dependency ratio. And instead of one ratio, we created several ratios to evaluate health care costs, labor force participation and pensions.</p>
<h2>Who retires at 65 anymore?</h2>
<p>One of these new realities is that the number of people working into their late 60’s and beyond is going up. In 1994, 26.8 percent of American men aged 65-69 participated in the labor force. That figure climbed to 36.1 percent in 2014 and is forecast to reach <a href="http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_303.htm">40 percent by 2024</a>. And the trend is similar for even older men, with <a href="http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_303.htm">17 percent</a> of those aged 75-79 expected to still be working in a decade, up from just 10 percent in 1994. </p>
<p>Clearly, these older people did not get the message that they were supposed to become old-age dependents when they turned 65. </p>
<p>This isn’t unique to the U.S. Rates like these in many countries <a href="https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=LFS_SEXAGE_I_R">have been rising</a>. In the U.K., for instance, the labor force participation rate of 65- to 69-year-old men was 24.2 percent in 2014, and in Israel it was 50.2 percent, up from 14.8 percent and 27.4 percent, respectively, in 2000. In part this is because older people now often have better cognitive functioning than their counterparts who <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2015.07.005">were born a decade earlier</a>. </p>
<p>So, instead of assuming that people work only from ages 20 to 64 and become old-age dependents when they hit 65, we have computed “economic dependency ratios” that take into account observations and forecasts of labor force participation rates. This tells us how many adults not in the labor force there are for every adult in the labor force, giving us a more accurate picture than using 65 as a cutoff point. We used forecasts produced by the <a href="http://www.ilo.org/ilostat/faces/help_home/data_by_subject/subject-details/indicator-details-by-subject?subject=EAP&indicator=EAP_2WAP_SEX_AGE_RT&datasetCode=YI&collectionCode=ILOEST&_afrLoop=104727609409028#%40%3Findicator%3DEAP_2WAP_SEX_AGE_RT%26subject%3DEAP%26_afrLoop%3D104727609409028%26datasetCode%3DYI%26collectionCode%3DILOEST%26_adf.ctrl-state%3Djpenqo96d_247">International Labour Organization</a> to figure this out.</p>
<p>The old-age dependency ratio in the U.S. is forecast to increase by <a href="http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/">61 percent</a> from 2013 to 2030. But using our economic dependency ratio, the ratio of adults in the labor force to adults not in the labor force increases by just 3 percent over that period.</p>
<p>Clearly, doom and gloom stories about U.S. workers having to support so many more nonworkers in the future may need to be reconsidered. </p>
<h2>Is the health care burden going to be so high?</h2>
<p>Another reality is that while health care costs will go up with an older population, they won’t rise as much as traditional forecasts estimate. </p>
<p>Instead of assuming that health care costs rise dramatically on people’s 65th birthdays, as the old-age dependency ratio implicitly does, we have produced an indicator that takes into account the fact that most of the health care costs of the elderly are incurred <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelbell/2013/01/10/why-5-of-patients-create-50-of-health-care-costs/#3686014a4781">in their last few years of life</a>. Increasing life expectancy means those final few years happen at ever later ages. </p>
<p>In Japan, for example, when the burden of the health care costs of people aged 65 and up on those 20-64 years old is assessed using only the conventional old-age dependency ratio, that burden is forecast to increase <a href="http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/">32 percent</a> from 2013 to 2030. When we compute health care costs based on whether people are in the last few years of their lives, the burden increases only 14 percent. </p>
<h2>Pension ages are going up</h2>
<p>The last reality we considered concerns pensions. </p>
<p>In most OECD countries, the age at which someone can begin collecting a full public pension is rising. In a number of countries, such as Sweden, Norway and Italy, pension payouts are now explicitly <a href="http://www.oecd.org/publications/oecd-pensions-at-a-glance-19991363.htm">linked to life expectancy</a>. </p>
<p>In Germany, the full pension age will rise from <a href="http://www.oecd.org/germany/PAG2015_Germany.pdf">65 to 67 in 2029</a>. In the U.S., it used to be 65, is now 66 and will soon <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/retirechart.html">rise to 67</a>.</p>
<p>Instead of assuming that everyone receives a full public pension at age 65, which is what the old-age dependency ratio implicitly does, we have computed a more realistic ratio, called the pension cost dependency ratio, that incorporates a general relationship between increases in life expectancy and the pension age. The pension cost dependency ratio shows how fast the burden of paying public pensions is likely to grow.</p>
<p>For instance, in Germany, the old-age dependency ratio is forecast to rise by <a href="http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/">49 percent from 2013 to 2030</a>, but 65-year-old Germans will not be eligible for a full pension in 2030. Our pension cost dependency ratio increases by 26 percent over the same period. Instead of indicating that younger Germans will have to pay 49 percent more to support pensioners in 2030 compared to what they paid in 2013, taking planned increases in the full pension age into account, we see that the increase is 26 percent. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111851/original/image-20160217-30543-h8s462.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111851/original/image-20160217-30543-h8s462.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111851/original/image-20160217-30543-h8s462.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111851/original/image-20160217-30543-h8s462.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111851/original/image-20160217-30543-h8s462.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111851/original/image-20160217-30543-h8s462.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/111851/original/image-20160217-30543-h8s462.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pranom Chartyothin, a 72-year-old bus conductor, sells and collects bus tickets in downtown Bangkok, Thailand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jorge Silva/Reuters</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sixty-five just isn’t that old anymore</h2>
<p>In addition to this suite of measures focused on particular aspects of population aging, it is also useful to have a general measure of population aging. We call our general measure of population aging the prospective old-age dependency ratio. </p>
<p>People do not suddenly become old-age dependents on their 65th birthdays. From a population perspective, it makes more sense to classify people as being old when they are getting near the end of their lives. Failing to adjust who is categorized as old based on the changing characteristics of people and their longevity can make aging seem faster than it will be.</p>
<p>In our prospective old-age dependency ratio, we define people as old when they are in age groups where the remaining life expectancy is 15 years or less. As life expectancy increases, this threshold of old age increases. </p>
<p>In the U.K., for instance, the conventional old-age dependency ratio is forecast to increase <a href="http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/">by 33 percent by 2030</a>. But when we allow the old-age threshold to change with increasing life expectancy, the resulting ratio increases by just 13 percent. </p>
<p>Populations are aging in many countries, but the conventional old-age dependency ratio makes the impact seem worse than it will be. Fortunately, better measures that do not exaggerate the effects of aging are now just a <a href="http://www.reaging.org/indicators">click away</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53033/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research was conducted in the framework of the European Research Council ERC-2012-AdG 323947-Re-Ageing
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sergei Scherbov receives funding from the European Research Council ERC-2012-AdG 323947-Re-Ageing</span></em></p>Turning 65 in 2016 doesn’t mean the same thing as hitting 65 in 1916. So why are we still using a population aging measure that was developed a century ago?Warren Sanderson, Professor of Economics, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)Sergei Scherbov, Deputy Director of World Population Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/503072015-11-25T19:07:23Z2015-11-25T19:07:23ZTackling hidden issues for older workers delivers wide-ranging returns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102094/original/image-20151117-4947-5g71lp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Intergenerational mentoring benefits both older and younger colleagues, as well as their employers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-15174088/stock-photo-a-view-of-a-senior-engineer-training-a-newly-hired-employee.html?src=DPElcpRaTXN4vVBDSfqeUQ-1-56">Marcin Balcerzak/from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The latest ABS <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6202.0">labour force statistics</a> show a steady trend developing. Both the unemployment rate at 6.1% and the participation rate at 65% have remained stable since March 2015. This smooth trend bodes well for Australia as a whole.</p>
<p>However, as an academic specialising in the ageing workforce, I am often more interested in the hidden issues that these statistics do not reveal. Often hidden is the <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/age-discrimination/publications/age-discrimination-exposing-hidden-barrier-mature-age">discrimination mature-age workers</a> experience in the workplace – particularly during the recruitment process. This includes anything from underemployment to intergenerational competition from younger workers who feel older workers are “blocking the way” to higher positions.</p>
<p>Other issues include incivility in the way they are spoken to, exclusion from conversations and events, and ideas being ignored.</p>
<h2>Age discrimination has lasting impacts</h2>
<p>ABS data consistently shows that, despite their wealth of knowledge and experience, older workers are over-represented in underemployment statistics. They experience countless problems, such as being denied additional work hours or experiencing <a href="https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/a-third-of-employers-offer-reduced-working-hours-to-older-workers">unwanted cuts</a>. Consequently, they are unwillingly locked in to part-time or casual work.</p>
<p>Mature-age workers often face limited training and promotional opportunities. As a result, they are left with outdated skills and minimal career progression. They are <a href="http://olderworkers.com.au/news/older-workers-cry-foul-over-employers-age-bias/">often denied</a> flexible working conditions, with less of an opportunity to assume responsibility within the workplace. </p>
<p>With <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/ruth-williams/new-solutions-needed-for-_b_8385926.html">such obstacles</a>, older workers are sometimes unable to have productive impacts in their workplace. </p>
<p>This is just the tip of the iceberg of age discrimination in the workplace. </p>
<p>Work-related age discrimination and mature-age unemployment and underemployment can have complex and far-reaching outcomes. It can impact an individual through their finances, physical and mental health and overall wellbeing. </p>
<p>Older job seekers can become severely stressed and discouraged when searching for work. These feelings of frustration sometimes lead to self-employment, or “self-selecting” out of the workforce through unemployment or involuntary early retirement. </p>
<p>Mature-age people who are not in the workforce, or are chronically under-employed, frequently experience lower savings and superannuation. This legacy can stay with them for the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>In a broader perspective, low mature-age labour force involvement is economically unsustainable. To deal with this, the government is <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/joe-hockey-asks-aussie-workers-to-save-the-nation-by-delaying-retirement-until-after-65/story-fni0cx12-1227248477501?sv=7bd1aa053dd482ccffecd837666a6e61">pushing hard</a> to encourage extended working lives.</p>
<h2>Engaging an older work population</h2>
<p>Many often overlook the wealth of knowledge, experience and skills that equips mature-age workers to apply leadership in workplace settings and projects. Most older workers have crucial business relationships and industry contacts. These cannot be recorded in a manual for others to read and easily implement.</p>
<p>Industries requiring specific skills and knowledge – such as the mining sector – are deeply concerned about losing this specialised knowledge as older workers retire. </p>
<p>Many organisations are responding in an attempt to capture this valuable knowledge. They are aiming to do so through <a href="http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/what-is-knowledge-transfer">knowledge transfer</a> or <a href="http://www.business.gov.au/business-topics/selling-or-closing-your-business/Pages/succession-planning.aspx">succession planning</a>, such as mentoring programs.</p>
<p>Mentoring programs positively and actively engage older workers, giving them a sense of value while retaining corporate knowledge within the organisation. But reverse mentoring is also an option. Here younger colleagues can share their specialised skills and knowledge with their older colleagues. </p>
<p>Such programs are useful as they often foster intergenerational relationships. More importantly, they help break down the stereotypes that contribute to age discrimination.</p>
<p>HR and line managers need to apply an understanding and positive approach to how the ageing workforce can improve business. Many retail and finance organisations, with an older clientele, have been hosting targeted recruitment drives for mature-age workers in attempt to reflect their growing customer base. </p>
<p>But organisations must be careful not to implement age-friendly workplace policies and practices with a “one size fits all” perspective. Older workers are not a homogenous group – they have varying and changing needs over their life course. Strong supervisor support based on a person-centred approach may prove far more beneficial.</p>
<p>As a society, we need to better understand and prepare for the impending issues facing ageing populations. Crucial to responding to these complex issues is an interdisciplinary, intergenerational and international approach. We need to move away from silos and towards synergistic ways of thinking.</p>
<p>Closer partnerships between education providers and industry are necessary to encourage innovation and strong leadership in this area. Collaborations between researchers, policymakers and industry will assist in the development of the skilled professionals who are needed in the rapidly expanding ageing sector. University programs are beginning to respond to the increasing demand for a more holistic set of workplace skills.</p>
<p>Such influences can shift the focus of ageing from catastrophe to opportunity – and remove barriers to older people leading healthy and productive lives.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is part of a series of articles on ageing. Read the others <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/ageing-in-the-community">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50307/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many hidden obstacles confront Australia’s older workers, so what workplace changes can be made to maximise the benefits and reduce the problems of an ageing population?Ruth Williams, Research Fellow, Centre for Workplace Leadership, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/383792015-03-05T19:28:06Z2015-03-05T19:28:06ZSuperannuation missing from the IGR’s ageing narrative<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73905/original/image-20150305-17474-1xvuufi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Puzzling omission: the Intergenerational Report is light on detail about the future of superannuation. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lizadaly/2944376209/in/photolist-5ubGt4-86G1RV-kSbSA-5ubRQX-81wTMa-cAgtQs-a5E3tn-9VEPNM-4fiwA7-2saPB2-9VEP7K-iCwoFe-7YdriJ-5ug6uo-5ubCmB-2amqzF-5ugeqj-2Sa9io-kSbQy-kUtVs-kN3AE-5st2qA-7GPZjM-5vZeKj-7GPZ5M-52UX7B-3zz8tA-8oaHn-8oYiH-vESM9-5PEzDi-6Nwe3i-iDkCXp-47cgC2-9VHErA-4rhXqm-hGHh1x-5ubKtR-9VEPCX-cUQNWf-DvtpY-2Nr3y-2NqCH-47cgC4-efqP7-8oYj3-HSAXL-9VHEM3-4rdx1g-4rhkDE">Flickr/Liza</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2015 Intergenerational Report makes it clear that Australia will have an ageing population by 2055 and the undeniable fact that we are living longer. Life expectancy will, by 2055, be well into the 90s. It is also predicted that the participation rates of people aged 65 and over will increase significantly from 12.9% in 2014-2015 to 17.3% in 2054-55. </p>
<p>The report notes that this will provide a significant opportunity to benefit from the wisdom and experience of older Australians. What it is also means is that these older working Australians will contribute to income tax revenue receipts for the Australian Government. </p>
<p>What does this then means for the expenditure side for the Government, with respect to the aged pension and the elephant in the room – superannuation? </p>
<p>The 2015 Report notes that around 70% of people of Age Pension age were receiving the Age Pension. Of these, 60% were in receipt of the full rate pension. It is predicted that the proportion of part-pensioners relative to full-pensioners is expected to increase, although the proportion of retirees receiving any pension is not projected to decline.</p>
<p>The really interesting issue relates to how the superannuation system will fit into this overall mix. The 2015 report is very light on with relevant details. This is a major weakness in the report, considering that the superannuation system is a critical element of how an ageing population can retire comfortably and reduce reliance on the aged pension from the Government.</p>
<p>The report notes that as Australians receive compulsory superannuation contributions for longer periods of their working lives, they are likely to retire with higher superannuation balances. This is particularly true as the amounts in superannuation are vested until the age of 55, increasing to the age of 60. So it is fair to say that Australians will have a higher superannuation fund balance in 2055 than they currently have in their funds. </p>
<p>The report states that the median account balance for a person aged 60 or over in the accumulation phase in 2011-12 is around $95,000. This is clearly not enough to be self-sufficient in retirement. So there is no doubt that the balances will be much higher by 2055. The report does not estimate what that balance might be by 2055.</p>
<p>Why? The answer could be that the Australian government is signalling that the superannuation system is about to the reviewed and that the tax concessions that favour superannuation are to be clawed back. The report actually notes that the government will consider several aspects of the superannuation system as part of the review of the tax system. </p>
<p>Presumably this is a reference to the impending White Paper on the tax system, which is already overdue. There is little doubt that the government has in its sights the current very generous tax concessions, which allows superannuation fund earnings to accrue with a minimal 15% tax rate and to allow substantial contributions to be made also at only 15%.</p>
<p>The real area that could be targeted is the fact that most superannuation benefits to those aged over 60 are tax exempt. Considering that the report notes that we have an ageing population and that those older Australians will continue to work then there is clearly an opportunity for such older Australians to put earnings into a superannuation fund, only be taxed at 15% within the fund and then receive tax free benefits when the amounts are withdrawn. </p>
<p>This is clearly a target area for the government and the report is laying the ground work for such a review. The Report also suggests that the Government is reviewing the manner in which the superannuation system can transform the superannuation fund pot of money into a retirement income stream. That is force older Australians to take their superannuation benefits as an income stream rather than as a lump sum.</p>
<p>Superannuation will be a major policy area for the government in the near future and it is a shame the 2015 Report provides very little guidance on preparing for that future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38379/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael William Blissenden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A discussion about what superannuation will look like in the future is essentially from the Intergenerational Report.Michael William Blissenden, Associate Professor in Law, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/379742015-02-24T19:31:09Z2015-02-24T19:31:09ZBusiness must show the lead on intergenerational employment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72874/original/image-20150224-32244-1p09wu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The age workers are perceived as "older" is getting younger.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image sourced from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We all understand the population is ageing, and while comments by treasurer Joe Hockey that the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/joe-hockey-raises-prospect-of-australians-living-until-150-to-justify-budget-cuts-20150119-12t3m1.html">first person to live to 150 may have already been born</a> attracted <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-19/shorten-ridicules-hockey-claim-people-will-live-150/6025610">some derision</a>, it should come as no surprise. What is less easy to understand is the curious paradox that, as the workforce ages, the age at which workers are being labelled by organisations and recruiters as “old” is getting younger. </p>
<p>The way that many organisations and those recruiting for organisations construct old age is very different to the way that the authors of the soon-to-be-released Intergenerational Report are likely to construct older age. <a href="http://oss.sagepub.com/content/35/11/1569.abstract">Our research</a> into the management of age in organisations has found overwhelmingly that employees over the age of 45 self-identify as older. Further, there is a general sense amongst organisational decision makers that if you haven’t “made it” by the age of 40 you aren’t going to “make it” at all. </p>
<p>Declaring that you must have made it by 40 not only ignores the huge potential of people in their 50s, 60s and 70s, but it also doesn’t account for the fact that many women and men are ready to hit their stride in their 50s. Relieved of the heavy lifting responsibilities of parenting, they are able to devote themselves to their careers and to their employers.</p>
<p>Some companies have managed to see this potential and are beginning to think creatively about what having an older workforce profile means and how they can leverage its opportunities for increased productivity and innovation.<br>
The advent of the corporation in the early and mid-twentieth century created a prototypical career/life cycle in which youth meant education, adulthood meant work and old age meant retirement. This may have served bureaucratic corporations of the past because it provided order and calculability to those who passed through it. </p>
<p>However, it is an out-dated way of thinking for the modern corporation
Much of the discourse in the lead-up to the release of the Intergenerational Report pits old against young. Older people are constructed as an economic burden and younger people as resentful and angry. Yet our research into intergenerational relations in organisations found high levels of respect between younger and older people. </p>
<p>In particular, we found that younger employees greatly respected the knowledge and resilience that their older co-workers brought to their work. As the workforce ages and people stay in work longer, there is a huge opportunity to capitalise on the diversity of ideas, customer segments and product markets that an intergenerational workforce can open up to an organisation. Our research with a global engineering firm showed that the most innovative divisions were the ones in which teams were configured to include a broad range of ages, from new graduates to experienced workers over the age of 65. Respondents reporting learning from one another, and the shared experience flowed both ways. In these teams, the notion of experience wasn’t limited to time served, nor was it seen to expire once people had reached a certain age.</p>
<p>Words do matter. The way that we talk about age in organisations affects both internal employee engagement and also recruitment strategies. Those older and younger than the magic age of 35 to 45 often receive an unintended but powerful message that they have less to contribute to the organisation, and report lower levels of workplace engagement as a result. The language organisations use in their general marketing and specifically in their recruitment can send unintended signals that those over 45 need not apply. </p>
<p>One organisation we worked with wanted to recruit people 45 and older but was having trouble attracting candidates. We could show them that the wording of their job advertisements, “join a vibrant team that works hard and plays hard” and “working space is fresh and funky” was unintentionally signalling that older candidates were not welcome. We encouraged them to highlight aspects of the job that are most important to older workers: recognition of skills, work and life experience; the culture and values of the organisation; and the opportunity to learn new things. This last one is important because it is perhaps the most pervasive yet blatantly false stereotype about ageing. We don’t stop wanting to learn new things as we age. </p>
<p>If the fourth Intergenerational Report is to have the impact that the government, policy makers and employees of all ages are hoping it will, then it is business that needs to take the lead in re-imagining careers, shifting to an age-inclusive culture and establishing the organisational structures whereby employees of all generations can work with, for and alongside one another. Our prosperity and productivity as a nation relies on it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37974/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leanne Cutcher receives funding from the Australian Research Council DP120100513.</span></em></p>The way many organisations construe old age is likely to be very different to its definition in the soon-to-be-released Intergenerational Report.Leanne Cutcher, Associate Professor, University of Sydney Business School, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/338732014-11-26T06:19:16Z2014-11-26T06:19:16ZHard Evidence: which is the best country to grow old in?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63974/original/v9sqtwqb-1415364663.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Yes – cheap flights to Norway!</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/435347929/in/photolist-EtgLM-5cCZTU-k7bAe-beZyez-adoon7-3RyzLh-ozh7JU-htrfxb-a9kGBF-37wK2V-fmojRq-f18KP-f18J5-gwo5rX-36iWA-dSrxo-5UryAL-dX7Rn6-iNpKrV-ar2Udu-8ei3BW-mfNXv-beZAAX-6P1DAm-nRd7VF-9qqFR2-3UbLA-bzW25-6KtPxi-jMtBBM-cHKZYm-mu734V-ogZLhJ-47aEGz-4t7zRz-4vrMsj-6VH6S6-7LGoEE-59BUKd-f4Xuup-a9kFfx-a9ouCJ-5bwdjZ-p8vfWm-a9ouam-a9otSf-8Ka9YP-mAkqSi-aAKHUL-eLeDik">Pedro Ribeiro Simões</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s no secret that the global population is ageing. We’re living longer than ever and are healthier until much later in life. But we’re still struggling to adapt to this changing demographic – and some are struggling more than most.</p>
<p>So if we are going to get old, where should we do it? Which country in the world will take the best care of us? Which country pays the closest attention to the needs of older people and makes the best use of their skills?</p>
<p>The ageing population is the outcome of extraordinary developments in technology, medicine and public hygiene. Equally important are changes to our lifestyles. More of us are eating better and regular exercise is now a fundamental part of many people’s lives.</p>
<p>But until relatively recently, our understanding of the capacities and vulnerabilities of people in older age has been tied to pre-industrial preconceptions about ageing. In the eyes of many people older people are still a burden rather than a resource.</p>
<p>The increasing availability of data on old age is changing this though. A good example is the Global AgeWatch Index, produced by <a href="http://www.helpage.org/">HelpAge International</a>. This provides credible comparative information on the wellbeing and quality of life of older people across the globe. The evidence generated by the index has helped us identify what makes it possible for older people to fare better.</p>
<h2>Head north</h2>
<p>The latest index tells us that the best place to grow old is Norway. Here, you will be among the richest pensioners in the world and will enjoy a supportive, age friendly environment. Or, if that doesn’t take your fancy, Sweden, Switzerland and Canada are other good options. These countries are particularly good at offering quality health and social care systems and provide better access to employment for their older citizens than other countries. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63970/original/2x5y5hty-1415363629.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63970/original/2x5y5hty-1415363629.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63970/original/2x5y5hty-1415363629.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=206&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63970/original/2x5y5hty-1415363629.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=206&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63970/original/2x5y5hty-1415363629.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=206&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63970/original/2x5y5hty-1415363629.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=259&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63970/original/2x5y5hty-1415363629.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=259&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63970/original/2x5y5hty-1415363629.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=259&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The top five.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Global AgeWatch index.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The values of the <a href="http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/">Global AgeWatch</a> Index provide a measure of the potential that each country has to match the best-performing country in the sample. For example, Sri Lanka’s overall index value of 51.7 means that older people’s well-being in Sri Lanka is 51.7% of the best performing state (100), giving it a shortfall of 48.3 percentage points below the best performing country, Norway.</p>
<p>It includes information in four areas to give a fuller picture of how well cared for older people are. It measures health status by looking at life expectancy at age 60 and the psychological well-being of older people. It takes into account income security by looking at whether pension incomes are adequate and cover enough people.</p>
<p>The personal capabilities of older people are also captured by investigating education and the extent to which older people are employed. And it considers how far their home countries offer an enabling, age-friendly environment – can older people there feel safe in their neighbourhood? Do they have access to crucial public services? All these are important considerations that make for a better life in old age.</p>
<p>Apart from Japan, all of the top ten countries are in Western Europe, North America and Australasia. Israel and Estonia also join the top 20 this year. The top scoring countries enjoy a rich standard of living, have high-coverage pension systems, high levels of healthcare provision and supportive social environments. </p>
<p>The UK comes in 11th place. It has a poor position in comparison to other European countries with respect to poverty among pensioners. It also lags behind others in the psychological well-being of older people. One dimension in which it scores relatively better is the enabling age-friendly environment – it ranks third in the world for that. </p>
<p>The analysis shows how important social and external environments are in determining older people’s ability to live well. One important factor is personal safety and another is access to public transport. These are key to older people’s quality of life, enabling them to access services (such as healthcare and shops) and friends and family.</p>
<p>A combination of low personal capabilities and a restricting external environment can have a serious impact. This prevents older people from taking advantage of opportunities like making social contacts and reduces their resilience to threats that affect them during old age, such as ill health and disability.</p>
<h2>Don’t book a flight yet</h2>
<p>Towards the lower end of the league are countries that have been slower to improve pension provisions and employment opportunities for their older citizens. There are fewer chances to access free healthcare and less community care and subsidised transport. Many African nations place at the lower end of the spectrum, including Ghana, Uganda and Morocco, which comes in 83rd place. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63972/original/sy5qbch7-1415364371.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63972/original/sy5qbch7-1415364371.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63972/original/sy5qbch7-1415364371.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63972/original/sy5qbch7-1415364371.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63972/original/sy5qbch7-1415364371.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63972/original/sy5qbch7-1415364371.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63972/original/sy5qbch7-1415364371.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63972/original/sy5qbch7-1415364371.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bottom rung.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Global AgeWatch Index 2014</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ukraine ranks towards the bottom, having scored badly across three out of four categories – including the health status of its older population.</p>
<p>The older populations of the three lowest-ranked countries, the West Bank and Gaza, Mozambique and Afghanistan, account for less than five per cent 5% of the total population. This points to issues that reduce people’s chances to survive to old age in these countries.The countries need to take action now to prevent the young people of today from living in poverty in their old age.</p>
<p>Latin American countries have been improving in this respect. Chile leads a cluster of countries in the region, ranking at number 22. Part of this success is attributed to the expansion of social pensions across Latin America.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63971/original/4x7tbpr4-1415364327.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63971/original/4x7tbpr4-1415364327.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63971/original/4x7tbpr4-1415364327.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=72&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63971/original/4x7tbpr4-1415364327.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=72&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63971/original/4x7tbpr4-1415364327.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=72&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63971/original/4x7tbpr4-1415364327.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=91&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63971/original/4x7tbpr4-1415364327.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=91&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63971/original/4x7tbpr4-1415364327.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=91&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Latin America on the up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Global AgeWatch Index 2014</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These kinds of pensions are said to a game changer for older people. Tax-financed, non-contributory, social pensions have the potential to create a basic regular income for some of the very poorest older people. In comparison, contributory pensions have not lived up to the expectation to support older people in low and middle-income countries. This is largely due to the fact that many people in these countries work in the informal sector and consequently do not qualify for formal pension schemes. </p>
<p>Top scoring Norway first introduced its universal rights-based pension in 1937, long before it achieved its current high-income status. Sweden, which has recently celebrated 100 years of its universal pension system, also rates highly in this metric. Both systems were put in place at a time when these countries were what would now be called “emerging economies”. Similarly, the best-performing African country, Mauritius (38), introduced a universal pension back in 1958.</p>
<h2>No contest</h2>
<p>Overall, there is a significant disparity between the nations at the top and those in the lower third. On income security, for example 26 countries in the index scored less than half the top values set by Norway and France. By income security, it means that almost all pensioners have a pension income entitlement, and the pension receipts afford a decent standard of living. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63969/original/c8d6sqrm-1415361987.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63969/original/c8d6sqrm-1415361987.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63969/original/c8d6sqrm-1415361987.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=160&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63969/original/c8d6sqrm-1415361987.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63969/original/c8d6sqrm-1415361987.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=160&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63969/original/c8d6sqrm-1415361987.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63969/original/c8d6sqrm-1415361987.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63969/original/c8d6sqrm-1415361987.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Best and worst.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Global AgeWatch Index 2014</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The results in the 2014 Insight Report of the Global AgeWatch Index also point to clear evidence of mismatches between advances in longevity and the evolution of policies that empower older people. In particular, many sub-Saharan, Middle Eastern and Asian countries achieve less than one-third of the desirable level of quality of life and wellbeing.</p>
<p>A clear message is that greater social policy priorities, including social protection and universal social services are needed to improve older people’s wellbeing, while at the same time making systems of welfare provisions more sustainable.</p>
<p>It’s important to note that the persistence and impact of social and economic restrictions accumulate over a person’s lifetime. If a person struggles throughout their life, they will be worse off in old age. Human development must therefore be promoted across the life course; building resilience at all stages of life to enable people of all background and abilities to live a better life in old age. </p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-are-we-facing-another-financial-crisis-34331">Hard Evidence</a> is a series of articles in which academics use research evidence to tackle the trickiest public policy questions.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33873/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Asghar Zaidi receives funding from the European Commission as well as from the ESRC.</span></em></p>It’s no secret that the global population is ageing. We’re living longer than ever and are healthier until much later in life. But we’re still struggling to adapt to this changing demographic – and some…Asghar Zaidi, Professor in International Social Policy, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/246532014-03-28T13:37:18Z2014-03-28T13:37:18ZTo live longer we have to change outdated ideas of what it means to grow old<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44945/original/8v4pqtqp-1395942251.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Still got it.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/laihiu/">Ryanne { trimmed reality }</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite being called a “grand challenge” alongside climate change and terrorism, the fact of an ageing society isn’t new; it has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-the-ageing-population-were-actually-getting-younger-21249">proceeding quietly</a> across all developed countries for 174 years: data on female life expectancies starting in 1840 reveal an average increase of two months every ten years. </p>
<p>The linear trajectory of this increase is remarkable and shows no sign of reaching a plateau. This century, the fastest growing section of the population is the very old; there are 10m Britons alive today who can expect to live to at least 100.</p>
<p>The familiar response to such information is negative: ageing is a problem. This is certainly the dominant media narrative, with common references to the “costs” and “burdens” of ageing. Of course this narrative discounts the economic, social and cultural <a href="https://theconversation.com/older-people-are-more-than-a-cost-benefit-equation-14015">contributions made by older people</a>, for example in families as grandparents and in local communities. It also ignores the very high levels of solidarity between generations when it frequently suggests that the baby boomers are stealing resources from younger generations. </p>
<p>As I argued in a recent <a href="http://www.britac.ac.uk/events/2014/Benefit_or_Burden.cfm">British Academy debate</a>, social science research demonstrates that this dominant narrative is out of date. There is a widely observed “structured lag” of around 20 years between demographic change and policy and institutional responses. This means that our ideas about ageing are stuck in the past. For example, the quiet longevity revolution is underpinned by improved health, although this isn’t always consistent. So, for many people in terms of physical capacity, 70 is the new 50. </p>
<p>Incomes in old age have risen and poverty has been reduced (although still far from being eradicated). There is a new trend away from early exit from employment towards extended working lives; more than 1m people are working beyond their pension age. There has been a major cultural shift too, in literature, art and some fashion directed towards later life. And the anti-ageing industry is worth billions of pounds.</p>
<p>As well as these changes in the meaning and experience of later life, there is new evidence that demands that we bridge the structural lag and replace the burden scenario with a different narrative. The science tells us that, while ageing is inevitable, it is <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v408/n6809/abs/408267a0.html">hugely variable and plastic</a>. The bodily wear and tear that means ageing, in biological terms, is caused primarily by <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/278/5337/407.short">environmental damage not genetics</a>. </p>
<p>The key risk factors include poor diet, lack of exercise, stress, low social class, smoking and so on. These cause the chronic condition (such as heart disease and stroke) which either end life prematurely or disable it. Therefore, if we can modify the impact of the risk factors and reduce chronic conditions, then we can extend active lives. For example there are <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1402378/">proven links between physical exercise and lower risks of diseases</a> such as stroke and diabetes.</p>
<h2>Active ageing</h2>
<p>The conceptual basis for a new vision of later life in our society is “active ageing”, or getting the maximum participation from people as they age. This concept would <a href="http://www.newdynamics.group.shef.ac.uk/about-the-programme.html">seek to achieve a combination</a> of individual, organisational and societal actions to minimise risks and maximise well-being as people age, and it would need to begin at birth. At its core would be prevention: enabling and supporting people to maintain physical and mental functioning.</p>
<p>In contrast to the stultifying negative response to ageing, research points to the possibility of a much more positive vision. There are potential blockages, such as the obesity epidemic and worsening inequality. Not to mention politicians and think-tanks, some of which are <a href="http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/comment/regulars/briefing/article670992.ece">seemingly hell bent</a> on creating generational strife. But, if these can be overcome, the promise of active ageing for all offers benefits for everybody, even the exchequer.</p>
<p><em>Alan Walker took part in the first in a series of British Academy Big Debates on ageing. Two further debates include <a href="http://www.britac.ac.uk/events/2014/Too_Old_and_Ugly_to_be_Useful.cfm">Too Old to be Useful: Challenging Negative representations of Older People</a>, and <a href="http://www.britac.ac.uk/events/2014/The_Best_Years_of_our_Lives.cfm">The Best Years of our Lives: Body, Brain and Well-Being</a> in Edinburgh on 29 April.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24653/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Walker is Director of the New Dynamics of Ageing Programme at Sheffield but does not receive any financial benefit</span></em></p>Despite being called a “grand challenge” alongside climate change and terrorism, the fact of an ageing society isn’t new; it has been proceeding quietly across all developed countries for 174 years: data…Alan Walker, Professor of Social Policy and Social Gerontology, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/238502014-03-03T16:40:46Z2014-03-03T16:40:46Z‘Grey’ workers hold the key to manufacturing’s future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/42964/original/b7hpgj63-1393846764.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Time for my tea break?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steve Parsons/PA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK’s workforce is getting older and older, and manufacturing will be particularly hard hit. However, wiser firms will make the most of the opportunities this opens up – older workers have the skills, experience and, outside of work, the spending power to revive manufacturing in the country.</p>
<p>As the great and the good of UK manufacturing come together for the annual conference of their trade body, <a href="http://www.eef.org.uk/about/default.htm">the EEF</a>, how the sector changes to deal with our ageing society ought to be a hot topic of discussion. </p>
<p>In his preface to a far-reaching review of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-manufacturing">future of manufacturing</a>, the business secretary, Vince Cable, noted that while the sector is a dominant and growing part of the UK economy, British firms will need to be innovative and nimble in how they react to the challenges and make use of the opportunities which face them during the next 40 years. A significant challenge is how to manage ageing workforces.</p>
<p>The ageing profile of the UK’s population, coupled with rising pension ages, means employers in all sectors are facing this challenge of ageing workforces, but the issue is particularly significant for manufacturers.</p>
<h2>Ageing pains</h2>
<p>Manufacturing already has a workforce older than the national average. The average worker’s age is 43.6 compared to 41.9 for the UK economy as a whole, according to the <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/get-involved/taking-part-in-a-survey/information-for-households/a-to-z-of-household-and-individual-surveys/labour-force-survey/index.html">Labour Force Survey</a>.</p>
<p>As these older workers leave the sector faster than young people join, the industry will face a significant skills shortage. There is particularly strong competition for workers with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as well as management backgrounds; and manufacturers cannot rely solely on new graduates to fill posts. </p>
<p>Yes, migration could go some way towards addressing skills shortages. However, <a href="http://www.eef.org.uk/blog/post/New-immigration-proposals-will-further-frustrate-manufacturers-struggling-to-recruit.aspx">as the EEF argues</a>, the current immigration system is too limited and complex for many manufacturers, especially small ones, to hire people with the right skills.</p>
<p>Much manufacturing work is physically demanding, which adds another set of problems. While technological advances have reduced the physical strain of some jobs, many of today’s older workers are still living with health conditions which are legacies of poor working practices.</p>
<p>None of these problems can be resolved particularly quickly, in particular because many parts of the sector have difficulty planning their workforce requirements in advance. It takes a long time to train up workers in many areas (nuclear specialists and automotive engineers don’t appear overnight) and demand for labour fluctuates hugely as major projects start and end.</p>
<h2>Going grey</h2>
<p>However the ageing workforce can be an opportunity for the sector too. As Cable <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-manufacturing">noted</a>, manufacturing is no longer simply about production, but a wide range of activities which add value. Think, for example, of delivering service and maintenance packages together with manufactured goods. Indeed, many firms are now redeploying older workers to service delivery; drawing on their skills and experience to be used in the delivery of excellent customer services. The most notable UK example, of course, is <a href="http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/content/careers/our_people/index.jsp">B&Q</a>, the DIY/hardware chain which employs older tradespeople on their shopfloors to provide knowledgeable advice to customers.</p>
<p>Furthermore, as the UK ages, the “grey pound” offers lucrative opportunities for British manufacturers who design and market products for older people. And, of course, in this sense older workers can be a source of knowledge and ideas. Businesses in Asia are well ahead of the curve, led by older economies like Japan and Singapore in developing strategies for delivering to an <a href="http://www.communitybusiness.org/images/cb/publications/2010/Ageing.pdf">ageing consumer base</a>, and there are real risks that British businesses will miss out on this lucrative and expanding market.</p>
<p>Some manufacturers are already identifying win-win situations. BAE Systems, for example, has a longstanding flexible retirement policy that allows workers to taper their exit while facilitating the transfer of knowledge and experience from one generation of workers to another. BMW has redesigned its assembly lines around the world, including in Oxford, to support its older workers. In Germany, it even has a plant staffed entirely by over 50s – as the Daily Mail dubs it, “<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1357958/BMW-opens-car-plant-employees-aged-50.html">Built by Mature Workers</a>”. BMW also found that the changes it made have <a href="http://hbr.org/2010/03/the-globe-how-bmw-is-defusing-the-demographic-time-bomb/ar/1">reduced injuries and sickness</a> among its younger employees.</p>
<p>Manufacturers need to get to grips with the ageing workforce, and this will require significant evolution in the way they operate. If their management practices fail to adapt to this, they will face growing skills shortages over the coming decades. Managed properly, however, older workers can be a great asset to the sector as it faces a changing and ageing global market.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23850/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Flynn receives funding from BIS Foresight Future and ESRC</span></em></p>The UK’s workforce is getting older and older, and manufacturing will be particularly hard hit. However, wiser firms will make the most of the opportunities this opens up – older workers have the skills…Matt Flynn, Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206422013-11-25T03:04:30Z2013-11-25T03:04:30ZAustralia is ageing, but is lifting the retirement age inevitable?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35926/original/k5bbybhr-1385184265.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dealing with an ageing population and workforce has been a concern for some years, with Tony Abbott promising changes to make it easier for older workers to find employment.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Paul Miller</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Federal Government only took a few hours to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-22/productivity-commission-recommends-raising-pension-age-to-70/5109630">quash</a> <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/commission/ageing-australia">suggestions made by the Productivity Commission on Friday</a> to lift the retirement age. </p>
<p>But while the Commission’s report is based on research that’s new, calls to address the economic impact of population ageing are not.</p>
<p>The issues <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;orderBy=customrank;page=0;query=%22population%20ageing%22%20Decade%3A%221980s%22%20Year%3A%221986%22;rec=1;resCount=Default">were first raised in Parliament</a> as far back as 1986. And the numbers suggest that Australians will need to work longer and access savings locked up in home equity to deal with an ageing population.</p>
<h2>The numbers</h2>
<p>The projected scale and speed of population ageing differs according to the agency releasing them, the scenarios offered, and the year of release (see figure 1A below). This is not unusual given the uncertainty of the underlying assumptions – fertility, mortality, and migration.</p>
<p>Many of the demographic projections by the Commission are similar to what has been seen in the past. The report points out that life expectancy may be often under-estimated. It expects females born in 2012 to live to over 94 years on average, higher than the more often quoted calculation based on unadjusted life tables.</p>
<p>But it would be unfair to say that Australian Bureau of Statistics projections are necessarily “misleading”, as has been <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/by-2060-australias-population-likely-to-reach-42-million-says-productivity-commission-paper-20131121-2xyll.html">claimed</a>. The ABS also publishes a series of figures using higher life expectancy. </p>
<p>What’s new is that the Commission has backed up its figures by looking at the historical variance of the key demographic assumptions and used these to calculate the likely range around some of its projections (figure 1B). </p>
<p>It helps us understand the risks better, is increasingly used <a href="http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-policy/wp/2013/13-06">elsewhere</a>, and has been previously <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8462.2012.00695.x/abstract">called for</a> in relation to Treasury’s projections.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35927/original/p5ctrf74-1385184841.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35927/original/p5ctrf74-1385184841.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35927/original/p5ctrf74-1385184841.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35927/original/p5ctrf74-1385184841.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35927/original/p5ctrf74-1385184841.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35927/original/p5ctrf74-1385184841.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35927/original/p5ctrf74-1385184841.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35927/original/p5ctrf74-1385184841.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We will see substantial ageing for any realistic combination of fertility, life expectancy, and migration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian Treasury, UN, ABS, Productivity Commission.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are also new projections of the impact on the labour market, income growth, age-related expenditure and the budget. More older people overall means the total labour force participation rate is expected to fall between 2012 and 2060 from 65% to 60%. </p>
<p>Combine the lower participation rates with declining terms of trade and lower productivity growth and it spells lower rates of income growth than Australians are used to. On top of this, there will be more pressure on public spending, which is geared toward older people through the health, pensions, and aged care systems (figure 2A).</p>
<p>The report also updates the Treasury’s Intergenerational Report 2010 projections of the resulting budget deficits: 3.2% of GDP in 2050 and 4.1% in 2060 – higher still if states pass on some of their fiscal pressure to the government. The findings are similar to those published in a <a href="http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/psrc/australia/protecting-prosperity-why-we-need-to-talk-about-tax.jhtml">PwC report</a>, but higher than the Government’s estimate of 2.75% in 2050 (figure 2B). </p>
<p>The Treasury assumed that growth in the short- to medium-term expenditure could be capped. The Commission seemed think this was not credible without substantial reforms.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35928/original/8mvqszvw-1385185247.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35928/original/8mvqszvw-1385185247.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/35928/original/8mvqszvw-1385185247.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35928/original/8mvqszvw-1385185247.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35928/original/8mvqszvw-1385185247.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35928/original/8mvqszvw-1385185247.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35928/original/8mvqszvw-1385185247.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/35928/original/8mvqszvw-1385185247.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More older people implies more budget deficits in the future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Productivity Commission, Treasury, PricewaterhouseCoopers.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The proposed response</h2>
<p>Faced with the fiscal challenges of population ageing, a society has a number of options. It might try to increase migration (migrants tend to be younger, but increasingly less so); raise fertility levels; sell state assets; borrow; compromise the standard of living of older people by reducing their benefits; compromise that of younger people by raising their taxes; transfer more resources between now and the future (through either public or private savings); or work longer or more efficiently.</p>
<p>Some of these options are already being applied but each deserves a considered public conversation. The Commission did not make any recommendations but suggested three areas for reform: working longer by delaying the pension age; accessing private savings in the form home equity; and improving the efficiency of the health sector.</p>
<p>They suggest increasing the eligibility age for the age pension once it reaches 67 in 2023 and indexing it to life expectancy or healthy life expectancy. This is based on the rationale that the eligibility age serves as a financial incentive and signal to exit the labour force early, even if most people in their late 60s are “neither infirm nor inept”. </p>
<p>One advantage of indexation is that it can take the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-08/hockey-wants-debate-about-raising-retirement-age/4060282">variability</a> of <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/no-plans-to-raise-pension-age-further-says-coalition-20131122-2xzev.html">politics</a> out of the matter. </p>
<p>It will very likely go up in future, but perhaps at shorter notice. The gradual increase to women’s pension age in 1996 started within two years of the legislation passing; the increase toward age 67 is starting in 2015, six years after it was announced.</p>
<p>Developing products that release equity in the homes of older Australians sounds promising and there is plenty of new <a href="http://cepar.edu.au/media/105989/chs_paper_20130314_final.pdf">research</a> about <a href="http://cepar.edu.au/media/102395/01_developing_equity_release_markets__risk_analysis_for_reverse_mortgages_and_home_reversions.pdf">structuring</a> such <a href="http://cepar.edu.au/media/115976/17_portfolio_choice_in_retirement.pdf">products</a>. But any solution would need to include rethinking the extent to which housing is used to shelter assets from the Age Pension and aged care means tests.</p>
<p>The report also considers the efficiency of healthcare, which is the largest area of age-related expenditure. Australia usually scores well on the overall efficiency of the system. But there is scope to improve cost effectiveness. For example, we spend less of health expenditure on prevention and rehabilitation than the <a href="http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?r=219938">OECD</a> average.</p>
<p>All three such assessments of long-term sustainability of government policies conducted by the Treasury since 2002 showed that policies as they stand are not sustainable. The next update is due in 2015. Time will tell if the Commission’s assessment will galvanise constructive debate and action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/20642/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rafal Chomik does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Federal Government only took a few hours to quash suggestions made by the Productivity Commission on Friday to lift the retirement age. But while the Commission’s report is based on research that’s…Rafal Chomik, Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research, Australian School of Business, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/164682013-08-20T03:52:52Z2013-08-20T03:52:52ZA more sustainable Australia: staying in work as we age<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/29196/original/gb3xym5s-1376442623.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nearly a third of agriculture workers are over 55.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>**<a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/a-more-sustainable-australia">A more sustainable Australia</a></em>* As we hit the half-way mark of the 2013 election campaign, we’ve asked academics to look at some of the long-term issues affecting Australia – the issues that will shape our future.*</p>
<p>Retirement ages across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (<a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/employment/oecd-employment-outlook-2013_empl_outlook-2013-en">OECD</a> countries are rising to keep up with greater life expectancy, to the <a href="http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/cars-burned-fuel-short-in-france-pensions-protest-20101018-16qws.html">dismay of those keen to retire</a> and the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/money/planning/an-enriched-retirement-20110614-1g0sg.html">relief of those who want to keep working</a>. </p>
<p>The economic case for higher labour force participation among older workers is strong – in Australia a five percentage point increase in the participation of 50 to 69-year-olds is projected to be worth 2.4% of GDP in 2050. That would fill most of the 2.75% fiscal gap that the <a href="http://archive.treasury.gov.au/igr/igr2010/report/pdf/IGR_2010.pdf">Treasury estimates</a> will result from population ageing.</p>
<p>But will increases in average life expectancy be accompanied by more years in good health, allowing us to work longer than we have in the past? And if not, can the potential chronic health problems of an older workforce be accommodated in the workplace?</p>
<h2>Living longer doesn’t have to mean more health problems</h2>
<p>There is much debate over whether living longer means we’ll be chronically ill for longer. In the 1980s, James Fries, a gerontologist at Stanford University, first argued that as average life expectancy had increased because medical, environmental and behavioural changes have reduced premature death, so would ill health and disability be compressed by delaying the onset of chronic illness into the final years of life. He said total years of poor health would be reduced; a hypothesis known as “morbidity compression”. </p>
<p>An alternative model is that the onset of ill health happens at the same average age and the gains in average life expectancy merely extend the total years of morbidity. </p>
<p>A third possibility involves a dynamic equilibrium in which ill health is delayed and total years of ill health remain unchanged.</p>
<p>The evidence on trends in morbidity is still largely inconclusive. Most research is based on US data with studies that show compression, expansion, as well as limited change in levels of morbidity. The most recent large <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w19268.pdf">study</a>, released last month, found evidence of a significant compression in morbidity among older Americans. </p>
<p>A 2009 study by <a href="http://www.cepar.edu.au/partner-investigators.aspx">Carol Jagger</a> at the University of Newcastle in the UK looking at EU countries found considerable international variation in trends, with nine countries where disability-free life expectancy increased and four countries where it decreased.</p>
<p>Closer to home, the picture is also mixed, not least because the necessary longitudinal data is scarce. A recent <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/sustainability/measuring/publications/sustainable-australia-report-2013.html">report</a> by the National Sustainability Council notes that baby boomers aged 53 to 62 in 2007-08 had greater rates of obesity, diabetes, hearing loss, arthritis, and high cholesterol than the same age group in 1989-90. Part of the reason for apparently worse health is because a greater proportion of the younger cohort survived, albeit with greater health issues on average.</p>
<p>Risk factors such as obesity and chronic conditions such as diabetes that we’re observing earlier in life (due to screening, for example) do suggest greater health complications in future. But disability and functional limitation from these conditions may still be delayed by enabling technology or cures.</p>
<p>The Australian Institute of Health and Ageing (AIHW) <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/australias-health">reports</a> that between 1998 and 2009 increases in life expectancy at age 65 included more years at the end of life with a disability and with severe functional limitations. But on the positive side, these were on top of increases in disability-free life expectancy at age 65 – from 7.1 to 8.2 years for males and 8.7 to 9.7 years for females.</p>
<p>As new data comes on stream, the next step for researchers will be to project the rates of healthy life expectancy into the future. Some are <a href="http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs13524-012-0156-2.pdf">doing this</a> already by extrapolating trends and calculating the probabilities of moving into ill health.</p>
<p>A massive <a href="http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/">global effort</a> to understand the health challenges across countries reveals that in Australia and elsewhere, musculoskeletal problems, particularly lower back pain, are the top causes of “years lost to disability” among older people. It is an area to which more research funding should be dedicated.</p>
<h2>What does this mean for an ageing workforce?</h2>
<p>Health <a href="http://www.cepar.edu.au/media/97250/participation_briefing_paper_final_with_logo.pdf">barriers to employment</a> can be overcome if such conditions and capabilities can be accommodated to allow people to work. </p>
<p>Government responses include providing services that help individuals and employers by way of advice and through subsidies for workplace modifications. Changes to incentives around benefits mean that individuals on Disability Support Pension (DSP) can now work up to 30 hours per week without losing benefits. And the <a href="http://deewr.gov.au/how-national-disability-recruitment-coordinator-works-employers">National Disability Recruitment Coordinator</a> works with businesses with 100 or more employees to help them employ and retain people with a disability. </p>
<p>Perhaps we can also appeal to employers’ self interest. After all, older workers have enormous value. They have mature judgement, reliability and loyalty, corporate memory, and lower levels of occupational health and safety incidents. Business can also benefit from workers that resemble their client demographic. </p>
<p>With the right modifications and assistive technologies, older workers can be <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537112001236%5D(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537112001236">as</a>, if not <a href="http://digitalarchive.maastrichtuniversity.nl/fedora/get/guid:ffe3dad9-d860-439b-b4fc-bbd33c359973/ASSET1%5D(http://digitalarchive.maastrichtuniversity.nl/fedora/get/guid:ffe3dad9-d860-439b-b4fc-bbd33c359973/ASSET1">more</a>, effective than other employees. </p>
<p>More could be done to incentivise employer involvement in health, to prevent illness and cope with disability. Australia has one of the lowest proportions of people with disabilities in the workforce in the <a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/sickness-disability-and-work-breaking-the-barriers_9789264088856-en">OECD</a>. Lower levels of labour force participation among people with disabilities have been <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4446.0main+features92009">stagnant</a> for some time.</p>
<p>Some industries are absorbing older workers at higher rates than others. Currently, the industry with highest proportion of older workers is agriculture, forestry, and fishing – 30% of its employees were aged 55 or over in <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6291.0.55.003May%202012">2012</a>. Since 1995, the education and health-care industries have seen the greatest gains.</p>
<p>It remains to be seen what the health and disability profiles of older workers will be and which employers will be able to adjust and reap the benefits of population ageing.</p>
<p><em>Thanks to the <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/sustainability/measuring/publications/sustainable-australia-report-2013.html">Sustainable Australia Report 2013</a> for inspiring this series.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/16468/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rafal Chomik works for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research which receives funding from the ARC.</span></em></p>**A more sustainable Australia* As we hit the half-way mark of the 2013 election campaign, we’ve asked academics to look at some of the long-term issues affecting Australia – the issues that will shape…Rafal Chomik, Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research, Australian School of Business, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/106032013-01-15T03:59:38Z2013-01-15T03:59:38ZSustainable employment and the ageing workforce: lessons learned from the Dutch<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17492/original/sq7y7bvg-1352678857.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sustainable employment initiatives in the Netherlands have proven effective in accommodating an ageing workforce.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As populations in OECD countries continue rapidly to age, the increasing imbalance between those young enough to work and those old enough to receive the pension is sounding alarm bells. By 2050, the <a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/society-at-a-glance-2011_soc_glance-2011-en">“old age support ratio” is expected to halve</a>; in Australia there will be only 2.3 people of working age to support each person of retirement age.</p>
<p>Understandably, governments facing the fiscal nightmare of increasing pensions and decreasing revenue are trying to keep people in the workforce for longer. Policies that actively discourage early retirement by, for example, raising the pension age are common.</p>
<p>While there is little question that such policies are necessary from the economic standpoint, it is less certain that older people will stand to benefit from working longer, even if they are able to.</p>
<p>A key argument against keeping people in the workforce longer is that certain types of activities – involuntary work, unskilled work, and manual labour – can have an adverse effect on well-being. Raising the retirement age runs the risk of creating a new – “grey” – working class.</p>
<p>On the other hand, when a person’s work aligns with their skills, experience and interests, such “quality” work is likely to benefit their health and social connectedness as well as their income. For older people, working longer could actually improve health and well-being, provided the work is not demeaning, demoralising or physically arduous.</p>
<p>In practice, however, many older people cannot work due to caregiving responsibilities, a lack of up-to-date skills and experience, or poor health. And employers may discriminate against older people — consciously or otherwise — or may not provide the flexible employment arrangements that many older workers need or want.</p>
<p>In this mix of pros, cons, and feasibility issues, certain interconnections are apparent. If working conditions were more conducive to good health and well-being in the first place, there is every likelihood people could continue working into later life quite comfortably and happily. Caregiving responsibilities for unwell partners might diminish too. And if throughout their working lives people were continually upskilling, there would be no outdated skills problem, which in turn would nullify at least one reason for age discrimination.</p>
<p>This promising virtuous circle is encapsulated in the concept and practice of “sustainable employability”.</p>
<p>Broadly, sustainable employability refers to a person’s ability to gain or maintain quality work throughout their working lives, whilst maintaining good health and wellbeing and having the opportunity and the right work context to be able to transfer skills, knowledge and competencies to another job, company or other future roles. Government, employers, employees and society have an important role to play in promoting, debating and developing sustainable employability. Governments, employers and employees must also implement policies and programs to put it into practice. Employees need to become entrepreneurs of their own life and career development.</p>
<p>Steps towards sustainable employability are being taken in Australia. For example, “<a href="http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/grants/types-funding/-z-list-funding-types/ageing-well-ageing-productively-program-grant">Ageing well, ageing productively</a>” is a national research priority. Funding is also available to help organisations support employees to undertake further qualifications, thereby increasing their skill levels and prospects for future mobility. But we could learn a great deal from the Netherlands, where the sustainable employability mantra is being embraced by a growing number of organisations and businesses, thanks largely to the efforts and foresight of the government.</p>
<p>As the Dutch realised, government must act as a catalyst to overcome potential resistance from employers about implementing sustainable employability practices, and to demonstrate it pays financial dividends.</p>
<p>This is exactly what the Dutch Ministry for Social Affairs and Employment has done. The Ministry brought together from different industries 100 small and large employers – all early adopters of sustainable employability – and asked them what they do, what works well, and what the return on investment is.</p>
<p>The findings, presented to the Dutch Parliament in October 2012 in the report <a href="http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten-en-publicaties/rapporten/2012/10/10/manifest-duurzame-inzetbaarheid.html">Manifesto of 100 employers and sustainable employability</a>, demonstrate a strong business case for sustainable employability. Some organisations recouped their investment in sustainable employability programs within one or two years. Organisations found that investing in programs to improve staff’s physical and mental health, for example, reduced sick leave, increased productivity, and secured them a reputation as an employer of choice.</p>
<p>The Manifesto also provides a framework for implementing sustainable employability practices, and identifies five key success factors to invest in: staff engagement, organisation of work, health, development (education and mobility), and periodically measuring the sustainable employability of current staff.</p>
<p>Recognising that the best advocates are businesses that have implemented sustainable employability practices themselves, the Dutch government is running a series of activities to help them share their knowledge and experiences in health, education and mobility programs with other businesses. Many of these activities could easily be replicated in Australia. </p>
<p>Monthly employer meetings in collaboration with industry and regional organisations could implement actions that improve sustainable employability. The majority of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have not been introduced to the concept and importance of sustainable employability because often the day-to-day to running of the business has priority.</p>
<p>SME representatives could promote the benefits of sustainable employability by holding local masterclasses, presenting at regular employer conferences or instituting awards for businesses that excel in sustainable employability.</p>
<p>Innovation centres could assist SMEs and their employees to develop action plans to implement sustainable employability practices by joining learning networks, or through in-depth workshops or individually tailored business advice.</p>
<p>A central funding resource for employers could be established (similar to what the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/esf/">European Social Fund</a> has done) to stimulate investment in sustainable employability.</p>
<p>Australia could develop its own Manifesto of 100 employers and sustainable employability.</p>
<p>Companies that participate in developing such a Manifesto could give one-on-one advice to at least two other employers. Those employers in turn would be obliged to assist two other employers. And so on.</p>
<p>Sustainable employability has the potential to transform an impending crisis into a promising opportunity in which both individual well-being and the national economy stand to benefit. Learning from other countries like the Netherlands, and putting sustainable employability firmly on the map of public debate, can help us develop further initiatives and accelerate the process in Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sabrina Pit currently receives funding from the University Centre for Rural Health, University of Sydney. She also owns and runs two consultancy companies that aim to promote work ability.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Haydon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As populations in OECD countries continue rapidly to age, the increasing imbalance between those young enough to work and those old enough to receive the pension is sounding alarm bells. By 2050, the “old…Sabrina Pit, Senior Research Fellow, Work & Healthy Ageing, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/97722012-09-28T03:48:11Z2012-09-28T03:48:11ZGrey expectations, or a silver lining? The challenges facing older workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15947/original/2959ybxh-1348791340.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australians from skilled trades or professions are the most likely to find a niche in the ageing workforce.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nurse image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Welcome to Shades of Grey, a series from The Conversation that examines the challenges posed by Australia’s ageing workforce. Today, Adjunct Associate Professor Margaret Patrickson from the University of South Australia takes a look at the underlying desires and expectations of our older workers.</em></p>
<p>Though much has been written about the issues that arise from workforce ageing, there is still not enough information about which older people might desire to work into their seventies or beyond — let alone whether they might actually have the opportunity to do so. </p>
<p>Since the turn of this century, both politicians and social analysts have consistently encouraged older people to remain in the workforce. The OECD has been especially vocal in this regard, even though there is <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncver.edu.au%2Fpopups%2Flimit_download.php%3Ffile%3Dresearch%2Fproj%2Fnr5012.pdf&ei=BNZjUMelFI2uiQerk4CICw&usg=AFQjCNHD6TyxO1SlqN1rpFCMKpMcxLi5RA">little evidence</a> to suggest these desires are being reflected in increasing opportunities for older people to work.</p>
<p>Lengthening life expectancy and consequent projected rising demands for pension income to support those no longer working underpin much of this rhetoric. Australian experience, however, indicates that unless older people have scarce sought-after skills or would be prepared to work either part time or accept power paid positions their options may be limited.</p>
<p>Those most likely either to seek a job — or find themselves a suitable niche in the workforce — tend to come either from skilled trades or professions, where skill shortages have forced employers to look outside their traditional hiring base. They include medical practitioners, plumbers, hairdressers, tilers, nurses, retail assistants, pharmacists and accountants. </p>
<p>They fall into two sub-groups. The first consists of skilled professionals who seek opportunities to continue to apply and utilise their skills, often on a part time or contract basis, and who gain significant personal satisfaction from making a contribution and feeling valued. This group contains a number of individuals who have previously reached high levels of expertise in their chosen profession, who command high salaries for their expertise and are often attributed with possessing high levels of wisdom and experience. </p>
<p>A second sub-group consists mainly of those who seek additional income to support their lifestyle, and this group often has to accept unpopular hours, shift work, frequently a less skilled job than an earlier full time role, and often lower pay. Those outside these two groups — and this would appear the larger group of older people — tend not to seek paid work as they either have enough to live on or else have not yet reached the level in their profession where they can command premium incomes and respect. Alternatively, their skills may be outdated and they do not wish to outlay funds to maintain their skill levels. </p>
<p>Members of this latter group frequently occupy the ranks of voluntary workers in our community and perform roles on which our economy relies on their unpaid input. Many of them see retirement as an opportunity for finding personal fulfilment and exploring new pursuits not previously open to them while they were working.</p>
<p>Opportunities where older workers might actually find work are far fewer than those seeking work and tend to be found in the peripheral workforce especially where labour scarcity or skill scarcity prevails. They tend to lie outside traditional full-time employment with larger organisations or within the public sector. A few vacancies exist in health, personal services, or in the building industry, where SMEs may frequently be more adaptable and flexible in their hiring practices.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.usq.edu.au/extrafiles/business/journals/HRMJournal/InternationalArticles/Volume10Ageing/GuestShacklockVol10-3.pdf">One recent survey of employers</a> by Guest and Schacklock indicates that older workers — though seen as experienced, loyal, dependable, hard working and reliable — are at the same time not viewed as creative, aggressive or willing to learn or change. Whether or not an individual might succeed in securing work depends on a combination of push and pull factors. Push factors include the non-availability of full time work, failing health, downsizing, relocation or similar. Pull factors include income augmentation, skill utilisation, opportunities for new skill acquisition, social interaction and possibly working from home. </p>
<p>Resolving these competing demands provides challenges that differ significantly between individuals largely as a consequence of differences in skill, occupation, family circumstances, location and personal attitudes to flexibility. It may be difficult to generalise or develop a one size fits all approach to the issue.</p>
<p>There are, however, several matters that have arisen from the investigations into the circumstances older workers face and how they react to them. </p>
<p>First of all, many older individuals <a href="http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv35515">would not welcome being made feel they need to work after they turn 65</a>. Rather, they may see this time in their life as an opportunity to explore alternatives other than working. Secondly, unless their work-related skills are up to date, their opportunities are likely to be less than they enjoyed when working full time and many do not want to have to outlay their own funds to maintain skill levels. Thirdly, finding an employer willing to hire them even for other than contract, casual or part time work may be challenging and they would need to pursue this option vigorously for success. Nonetheless, opportunities may arise in SMEs or through personal recommendations.</p>
<p><strong>Read more in the series:</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-redefine-the-traditional-working-age-9829">It’s time to redefine the traditional working age</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/retirement-a-trigger-for-distress-or-welcome-relief-from-the-rat-race-8437">Retirement: a trigger for distress or welcome relief from the rat race?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/older-workers-may-be-our-economic-salvation-or-a-pipeline-to-poverty-9281">Older workers may be our economic salvation – or a pipeline to poverty</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-no-silver-bullet-solution-to-australias-ageing-workforce-9089">There’s no silver bullet solution to Australia’s ageing workforce</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/active-ageing-is-a-risky-labour-market-policy-7883">Active ageing is a risky labour market strategy</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9772/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margaret Patrickson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Welcome to Shades of Grey, a series from The Conversation that examines the challenges posed by Australia’s ageing workforce. Today, Adjunct Associate Professor Margaret Patrickson from the University…Margaret Patrickson, Adjunct Associate Professor, International Graduate School of Business, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/98292012-09-27T20:28:59Z2012-09-27T20:28:59ZIt’s time to redefine the traditional working age<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/15866/original/32yppcsx-1348633086.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many older people already want to work longer but encounter barriers to doing so.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Welcome to Shades of Grey, a series from The Conversation that examines the challenges posed by Australia’s ageing workforce. Today, Rafal Chomik, a Senior Research Fellow at UNSW’s ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research, argues that the traditional retirement age needs a rethink.</em></p>
<p>The phenomenon of population ageing is often summarised in a simple ratio. Known as the dependency ratio, it measures the proportion of those of traditional working-age (15-64 years) to those above it (65 years and over). In Australia, as in most other countries, this dependency ratio is on the increase, having risen from 15% in 1980 to 20% in 2012. By 2050 it is expected to reach 36%.</p>
<p>Yet who we consider to be of traditional working-age can change over time. Arguably more important than the dependency ratio is the proportion of people actually in the labour force supporting those who aren’t.</p>
<p>For example, despite the rising proportion of older people, Australia’s total labour force participation rates have increased over the last few decades, from 61% in 1980 to 65% in 2012, driven by greater numbers of women working. Women still have some way to go to catch up with men. But even as that happens, if we wish to offset the declines in total participation that result from population ageing, we need some of the older people to remain in the labour force.</p>
<p>Many older people already want to work longer but encounter barriers to doing so. The barriers and incentives that lead to their inactivity come at a high cost of foregone potential. In a <a href="http://cepar.edu.au/research-briefs.aspx">briefing paper</a> on the trends and prospects for mature-age labour force participation, co-written with Professor John Piggott at the <a href="http://www.cepar.edu.au/">Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research</a>, we estimate this cost to be around $30 billion, or 2.4% of GDP in 2012.</p>
<p>Besides dismantling mature-age employment barriers related to health, discrimination, and skills, there are some key institutional issues that government can tackle. These result from the carrots and sticks that make up the tax, benefit and retirement income system.</p>
<p>The most important of these are the three ages at which pension income can be accessed: 55 (increasing to 60) for superannuation access; 65 (increasing to 67) for age pension access; and 60 for tax-free superannuation benefits. These can be thought of as two sticks and a carrot.</p>
<p>Australia is increasing the access ages for the two sticks. But the access age for tax-free superannuation has been left untouched at 60. As Professor Piggott has <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/plenty_of_pluses_in_longer_working_wyrhbV179TZ4TqdjLGv44I">noted before</a>, “once the standard superannuation age reaches 60, in 2024, the carrot will have lost its crunch”.</p>
<p>These levers are not only more amenable to policy intervention, but also appear to have a greater impact. When New Zealand increased access to its pension from 60 to 65, mature-age participation rates shot up much faster than in Australia, and now stand considerably higher; 76% for those aged 55-64 compared to Australia’s 53%. A key explanation is that New Zealand doesn’t rely on a widespread superannuation scheme, which in Australia can be accessed much earlier.</p>
<p>But to what extent can we push for longer working lives? Some, such as my <a href="https://theconversation.com/active-ageing-is-a-risky-labour-market-policy-7883">fellow contributor</a> to The Conversation, raise concerns about leaving older people to the ravages of the labour market. There is indeed <a href="http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2011/02/26/oem.2010.059030.abstract">evidence</a> that for mental health outcomes, a bad job can be as bad as or worse than inactivity.</p>
<p>Still, the quality of jobs in Australia is not necessarily worse than in other advanced economies. For example, the <a href="http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=TEMP_I">incidence</a> of temporary contracts among 55-64 year olds, a key indicator of job insecurity, stands at 4.6% – about half the rate of the OECD average.</p>
<p>Indeed, there doesn’t seem to be a relationship between a country’s mature age participation rate and incidence of mature-age mental health issues. While Belgium has one of the lowest <a href="http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=LFS_SEXAGE_I_R">participation</a> rates of 55-64 year olds in the OECD of 36%, Sweden has one of the highest, at 76%; yet both have the same incidence of <a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/mental-health-and-work_9789264124523-en">mental health</a> problems among 55-64 year olds.</p>
<p>It is important to remember that population ageing takes time. And society, as well as the labour market, can change and adapt over time. We know from health and education data that today’s older people are much better off than in the past. And looking at labour market data shows that while the proportion of unemployed 55-59 year olds who have been looking for a job for more than 12 months is at 34%, twice that for 25-34 year olds, this rate has declined more than for any other age group over the last decade.</p>
<p>Should labour markets become more turbulent and we find that older people increasingly struggle to engage with employment, then addressing labour supply and demand barriers seems more fitting than to simply retire them. The latter response is a mistake made in the past in the now familiar story across the OECD in the 1980s, of retrenchment and labour market exit of older workers to apparently make way for the young. This was in line with the debunked logic that there is only a certain number of jobs to go around.</p>
<p>Ever since the baby boomer generation, we have been redefining the timing of key life events. It is likely that later labour market entry, later marriage, child-bearing, and longer, healthier lives, will mean longer productive lives too. With the right mix of policy intervention, baby boomers who are now entering the age brackets of “traditional retirement age” may well redefine what that means too. And if they do work longer, then the “tsunami” of population ageing represented by an increasing dependency ratio will be no tsunami at all.</p>
<p><strong>Read more in the series:</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/retirement-a-trigger-for-distress-or-welcome-relief-from-the-rat-race-8437">Retirement: a trigger for distress or welcome relief from the rat race?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/older-workers-may-be-our-economic-salvation-or-a-pipeline-to-poverty-9281">Older workers may be our economic salvation – or a pipeline to poverty</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-no-silver-bullet-solution-to-australias-ageing-workforce-9089">There’s no silver bullet solution to Australia’s ageing workforce</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/active-ageing-is-a-risky-labour-market-policy-7883">Active ageing is a risky labour market strategy</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9829/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rafal Chomik works for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research which receives funding from the ARC.</span></em></p>Welcome to Shades of Grey, a series from The Conversation that examines the challenges posed by Australia’s ageing workforce. Today, Rafal Chomik, a Senior Research Fellow at UNSW’s ARC Centre of Excellence…Rafal Chomik, Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research, Australian School of Business, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.