Book Title
Unleashing the Productivity Potential of Older Workers Strategies for Enhancing
Summary
As times change, one or another labour market problem becomes relatively more topical. The times’ change brings along the demographical shifts that directly induce the labour market dynamics. Demographical shifts towards an ageing nation mean an ageing workforce or frequently termed older workers by International Labour Organisation (ILO). The growing size of older workers has gradually surfaced among urgent employment problems and will obviously remain on the social and labour horizon for the foreseeable future. This report offers initial work on measuring the economic impacts of older workers by concentrating on productivity.
This report connects the ageing population to the older workers and establishes the importance of measuring the productivity of older workers (55-64 years old). The old-age dependency ratio increased from 7% in 2000 to 10% in 2020, putting pressure on the working-age population if the older workers particularly post-retirement age workers (65 years old and above) are no longer active in the labour market. Nevertheless, the growing size of older workers including the post-retirement age, reduces the financial pressure on the younger workers and the government. The participation of older workers contributes positively to productivity growth at the national level. At the sectoral level, however, the contribution of older workers to productivity is somewhat different. Older workers contribute positively to the productivity of the agriculture sector but they show negatively in the services sector. Thus, we can infer that hiring older workers may have different effects on productivity depending on the characteristics or circumstances of the sectors.
The present report does not attempt to consider all economic aspects of ageing as a result of which the problem of older workers has appeared, or all the social consequences. Instead, the report makes an effort to emphasise the employment and labour market implications of older worker problems. It shows the importance of addressing older workers in the labour market and the conclusion alerts the need for immediate policy interventions.
For further information on the report, please email enquiry@euera.org.
