Nordic Labour Journal Publishes Issue Focused on "Age is no Barrier"

The Nordic Labour Journal has published an in focus issue on "Age is No Barrier." Focused on demystifying old age and presenting points of view and debates emerging from changing demographics, articles in the Journal include:

• "Active old age and solidarity between generations"
• "Myths dominiate attitudes to older people in the workplace"
• "Flextime key to a longer working life"
• "Just how many older workers are there? And do they want to work more?"

Source: Nordic Labour Forum (Feburary 9, 2012)

Northern Europe: Forum Addresses Encouraging Older Workers To Stay in Workforce

At the Northern Europe Forum, on 8-9 February 2012, the leaders of the Nordic and Baltic countries and the United Kingdom met to discuss common social challenges, focusing on two important issues that are vital to achieving long-term sustainable growth: (1) How do we get more women into top positions and more women entrepreneurs? and (2) How do we get senior citizens to stay longer in the labour force? In addition, a conference on "Beyond 65: new life chances in the labour market" was organized by the Government Commission on the Future of Sweden to run alongside the Northern Future Forum.

On the latter issue, "[f]lexibility, a voluntary basis and respect for the skills and experience of senior people were among the most frequent words heard in the discussion on how the nine prime ministers could increase the proportion of senior people in the workforce. The delegates at the Northern Future Forum seemed to agree that the issue is complex and requires a change of attitude across the whole of society." A summary of the day's discussions as well as a webcast on the topic are available.

In preparation for the forum a paper--"Nine countries’ perspectives on women entrepreneurs and leaders and senior citizens in the labour force"--was published with a country-by-country description of the initiatives that have been taken to get older persons to stay in the work force. In addition, documents were prepared of statistics of the number of seniors in the workforce.

At the Commission on the Future session, the message from Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt was that more people must be encouraged to work into older age and they must be prepared to retrain or change professions or careers during our working lives.

Sources: Nordic Labour Journal "Older people to be encouraged to work for longer" (February 9, 2012); Government of Sweden Northern Future Forum

Singapore: Reactions to Proposals Raising Age Before CPF Rates Are Cut

After Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that employers' contribution rates to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) for older workers have to go up gradually, concerns have been expressed as to what the effect will be on older workers. Currently, CPF rates are cut when workers reach 50 years old, and cut further when they turn 65.

Unions have welcomed the move, recommending that the policy would be revised so that the drop from 16% to 12% takes place at age 55, 12% to 9% at age 60, etc., stressing that businesses can tackle the extra costs with some smart planning. However, others are worried that it will depress employment for older workers, noting that a larger proportion of older workers kept their jobs during the recession because their CPF was lower and so they were cheaper to retain.

Employers also said that raising the CPF contribution rates will disadvantage older workers, as "it does not help to price an older worker beyond what the employer can afford", reckoned Dr Randolph Tan, SIM University's business programme head.

Sources: Channel News Asia "Employers' contributions to older workers' CPF to be raised: PM Lee" (Feburary 8, 2011); AsisOne "Employers concerned over higher CPF contribution rates" (February 10, 2012); The Business Times "Start cutting CPF rates only at age 55, say unions" (February 11, 2012)

Spain: Government Changes to Labor Policies Make it Cheaper to Discharge Older Workers

According to press reports, the Spanish government is taking steps towards ending a two-tier labor market that favors an older generation of workers with robust benefits who are very expensive to let go, but gives few rights to generally younger workers on temporary contracts. Specifically, the government plan would abolish contracts allowing severance packages of 45 days' pay for every year worked to employees deemed to have been unfairly dismissed, and instead would provide that employers firing staff will have to offer just 33 days' pay per year, or 20 days if the business is facing losses over a sustained period. In addition, it would cap severance pay at the equivalent of two years' wages, almost halving the limit from a previous 3 1/2 years.

Source: Reuters "Spain cuts firing costs in new labor reform" (February 10, 2012)

Vision Benefits Underutilized by Older Workers

The annual Employee Perceptions of Vision Benefits survey conducted by Transitions Optical, Inc. finds that today’s aging U.S. workforce isn’t fully taking advantage of vision benefits provided by companies, and they are "missing out on a critical preventive care opportunity and leaving themselves at higher risk for age-related vision problems, eye diseases and chronic conditions that impact eye health and compromise productivity." Specifically, the survey found that baby boomers (ages 45-64) are only slightly more likely than younger employees to enroll in their vision benefit (79% vs 75%), and the 34% of baby boomers and 23% of those ages 65+ who enroll do not utilize their benefit to receive a comprehensive eye exam.

According to the survey, employees’ actual experiences with many vision-related issues do increase with age, but even older employees had limited awareness of these changes. Thus, for example, half of baby boomers were unaware that they may have more trouble seeing far away or seeing well in dim lighting as they grow older. Similarly, three in 10 were unaware of the increased risk for eye diseases such as cataract, glaucoma and macular degeneration.

Employers were also cited for not taking appropriate steps to make sure employees understand their vision benefit. While only 18% percent of employees reported that their employers do not communicate to them about their vision benefit, nearly 60% percent of employers provide only basic vision plan information during the open enrollment period and only 13% of employees said their employers also include information on the importance of eye health.

Source: Transitions Optical, Inc. Press Release (January 31, 2012)

Canada: Economists Rekindle Debate about Raising Retirement Age to 70

Following up on recently published research, two economists from McMaster University economists are suggesting that demographic changes require raising the age of eligibility for the Canada Pension Plan to 70. According to press reports, future generations will "suffer the financial consequences" unless these changes are implemented, based on research by Byron G. Spencer and Frank T. Denton, published in 2011 ("Age of Pension Eligibility, Gains in Life Expectancy, and Social Policy").

As presented in the paper:

Canadians are living longer and retiring younger. When combined with the aging of the baby boom generation, that means that the “inactive” portion of the population is increasing and there are concerns about possibly large increases in the burden of support on those who are younger. We model the impact of continued future gains in life expectancy on the size of the population that receives public pension benefits. We pay special attention to possible increases in the age of eligibility and the pension contribution rate that would maintain the publicly financed component of the retirement income security system.

With no changes, by 2035, there will be only two people in the workforce for each person over the age of 65, instead of the four-to-one ratio currently existing, and that would require the contribution rate for CPP to double, from 6.4% to 12.3%.

Source: Toronto Star "Too selfish to retire? Economists urge pushing pension age to 70" (January 26, 2012); Hamilton Spectator "Raise pension age to 70: Mac study" (January 26, 2012)

Energy and Utility Industry: Preparing for Rapidly Changing Workforce Demographics

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has issued a report on how power and utility companies can best address industry changes within their organizations as they struggle with the awareness that an aging workforce is a significant risk to their operations. In "Change is happening: Is your workforce ready?," PwC looks into four areas in which successful, innovative and forward-thinking power and utility companies are effectively addressing change: developing and retaining leaders, effectively leveraging performance measurement and technology, realigning the organizational structure, and ensuring that the Human Resources (HR) team plays a significant role in overall business strategy.

Among other things, the report (based on a May 2011 survey) states leaders must have the skills to maanage:

• a workforce soon to be challenged with large-scale turnover;
• a workforce, trimmed through retirements and reductions, that is increasingly being asked to accomplish more with resources that are spread thin;
• the interaction between workers in a multigenerational labor force.

According to the survey, more than 60% of respondents rated the task of developing new leaders as difficult. Internal politics and lack of management support remain the greatest obstacles in developing effective new leaders, according to more than 50% of the survey respondents.

Source: PwC Publication Announcement (January 18, 2012)

Europe: Active Aging Year Gets off to Active Start

For Europe, 2012 is "European year of active ageing and solidarity between generations," and it has gotten off to an active start. The opening conference begins January 18, including a presentation by Danish EU Presidency, Eurofound's Donald Storrie, on "Senior citizens on the labour market--the need and potential of reforms."

The European Commission released a Eurobarometer showing that 71% of Europeans are aware that Europe's population is getting older, but only 42% are concerned about this development. Among other things, the Eurobaromter shows that who is considered "young" and "old" varies significantly across countries. Thus, for example, in Malta, Portugal and Sweden, people under 37 years are considered young, while in Cyprus and Greece people are considered young up to the age of 50.

In terms of having a job, only one in three Europeans agrees with the idea that the official retirement age will have to be increased by 2030, even though this is now a clear policy priority in many Member States. However, there is strong support (61%) for the idea that people should be allowed to continue working once they have reached the official retirement age. 53% reject the idea of a compulsory retirement age, but there are huge differences across Member States.

Earlier, on January 9, Eurofound research on "Impact of the recession on age management policies" was published. Authored by Chris van Stolk, the research explores the age management practices of companies in light of restructuring undergone during the recession, looking at policy in relation to the retention of older workers (aged 50 or more) in employment at national and establishment levels in nine European Union states. Among its conclusions:

Countries and establishments consider and discuss age management in different ways. All countries have policies that perform this function in some way, but the comprehensiveness of policies varies. The trajectory of reform differs between countries as does the urgency to target initiatives at older workers. In some cases and especially during the recession, older workers
were often not seen as priority groups. There was greater concern about the employability of younger workers. Given that the crisis affected younger workers disproportionately compared to other age groups, there were often good reasons to prioritise this group rather than older workers.

Source: Eurofound European Year 2012 Updates (January 13, 2012)

United Kingdom: Survey Finds Ageism Embedded in British Society

The UK's Department for Work and Pensions has published a report comparing attitudes between people in their 20s and people aged 70 and over, showing that age-related discrimination and stereotyping remain rooted in British society. According to "Attitudes to Age in Britain 2010-11," "A lack of mutual connection and respect across the age range is likely to foster stereotypes, misperceptions and discrimination. This suggests that different types of support are likely to be required to tackle the problem for different age groups."

Among other things, the report found:

• respondents thought that "youth" ends at 41 and "old age" begins at 59, but this varied by as much as twenty years in relation to the age of the respondent.
  
• while most respondents were accepting of a suitably qualified 30-year-old or 70-year-old boss, three times as many (15% and 5@, respectively) thought that having a 70-year-old boss would be 'unacceptable' compared with having a 30-year-old boss.
  
• respondents that were employed full-time or self-employed were far less likely to have experienced age discrimination than the unemployed working part-time groups.

Source: Department for Work and Pensions Press Release (January 12, 2012)

Despite U.S. Recession, More Workers over 55 Than Ever

An article in The Washington Post reviews Bureau of Labor Statistics data finding that although the recession has "thinned the ranks of other generations in the workforce, more people older than 55 are employed than ever before." Peter Whoriskey reports that while the "reasons for the surge of older workers are complex," experts point to "the growing fear among older Americans that they lack the means to support their retirement needs."

According to BLS data, those 55 and older in the workforce has risen by 3.1 million, or 12%, since the recession started. In addition, there are more people 75 years and older at work. This is not just absolute numbers: the percentage of those 55 and older at work has climbed from 38.9% to 40.3% during the recession.

Among other things noted are the shift from employers provided defined benefit plans to reliance on 401(k) plans, which increases the incentive to continue working in later years.

Source: The Washington Post "Amid downturn, more older Americans employed than ever before" (January 13, 2012)