Posts Tagged “jobs for seniors”

Older workers ‘do not steal jobs from young’

Under 50s would have higher wages and better job prospects if more older people were in work, Government’s older people’s tsar says
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The over-50s add value to the economy which creates jobs for younger people, a report says Photo: ALAMY
Dan Hyde

By , Consumer Affairs Editor

 11 Mar 2015

Comments62 Comments

Older workers do not steal jobs from young people and wages and job prospects for the under-50s would actually improve if baby boomers were kept in work longer, a study found.

Ros Altmann, the Government’s older workers’ champion, said the idea that older workers took jobs from the young was a “myth”.

In a report commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions, she said workers over the age of 50 faced “outdated stereotypes, unconscious bias and age discrimination“.

Ageist attitudes were hurting the economy, she said, predicting that an extra £25 billion would be generated if half of the 1.2 million employed or inactive older people seeking work were given jobs.

Rather than reducing the number of roles available to young people, extending British working lives would “better living standards for all of us”, she said.

“One of the most persistent myths I have encountered is that encouraging more older workers in the labour force will take jobs away from the young,” she said.

“On the contrary, the evidence shows keeping more older people in work actually improves employment prospects for younger generations, and has in some cases even increased their wages.

“Older and younger workers are not readily substituted for each other [and] there is not a fixed number of jobs in the economy.”

“The more spending power in the economy, the more jobs can be created.”

Her research showed that as the population ages, the number of people aged 50 to state pension age who were not working would increase from 2.9 million to 5.4 million by 2033 at current employment rates.

Many of the additional 2.5 million people would have “relatively low incomes and inadequate pensions”, she said.

This would “place a rising burden on younger generations”, she said, warning that “immigration alone cannot fill the gap”.

In an outspoken address on the topic last month, Prof Peter Spencer, chief economic adviser to the EY Item Club, said in February that late retirement was “holding back responsibility and remuneration for younger workers and pay in professional and managerial jobs.”

Ms Altmann, a former investment banker and academic at London School of Economics and at Harvard University, provided evidence to the contrary. She said historically, higher employment rates among older workers had benefited younger generations.

Ros Altmann found evidence to dispel the ‘myth’ that older wokers deprived the young

“After the Second World War, the dramatic increase in women’s labour force participation did not mean fewer jobs for men,” she said.

“Instead, it boosted economic growth, and more two-earner families with higher disposable income created new jobs as spending power in the economy increased.”

She contrasted the events with the “job release scheme” in the Seventies, which incentivised early retirement. The scheme was “accompanied by higher unemployment for young people”, she said, and was branded a “spectacular failure” by Age UK.

In France the government from 1971 to 1993 encouraged early retirement, only for employment among both old and young to fall. From 1993 to 2005, more older people stayed in work and youth employment rates in France increased, the report found. The same trend was noted in Germany and China.

“In the Fifties, over 90 per cent of men aged 60 to 64 were working, while it is now around 50 per cent,” Ms Altmann said. “For too long social norms have dictated that once you reach a certain age, you should expect to suddenly stop working. This must change. ”

Steve Webb, the pensions minister, criticised “old-fashioned and outdated perceptions” of older people and called on employers to retain and hire older staff. “From next month, we will be trialling targeted and intensive support for older jobseekers, including rolling out an ‘older workers’ champion scheme across every part of the UK,” he said.

 

Source:  Telegraph UK

dan.hyde@telegraph.co.uk

Unemployment rate falls

 Mar 12, 2015
JAMES FERNYHOUGH Money Editor

Australia’s jobless figure fell by 0.1 percentage points in February after a shock rise in January.

Centrelink

The rate of unemployment fell to 6.3 per cent in February, down from 6.4 per cent in January, spelling some positive news for Australia’s floundering economy.

There are now 777,300 unemployed jobseekers in Australia, a decrease of 15,800, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The number of employed people, meanwhile, now stands at 11,652,400 an increase of 15,600.

• Aussie dollar must fall: RBA
• Consumer gloom persists

The ABS said the increase in employment was driven by increases in both full-time (up 10,300) and part-time employment (up 5,300). The employment rate increased for both men and women.

The figures also revealed that the labour force participation rate decreased to 64.6 per cent in February 2015, from 64.7 per cent in January 2015.

The collective number of hours worked in February went up by 13 million hours to 1,620.8 million hours, a 0.8 per cent increase.

 

Source:  The New Daily

Grey army marches back to work

 

Older Worker

Joyleen Thomas, 73, works full-time in the aged care sector as an administrator, the oldest worker in the 2000-employee ACH Group. Picture: Kelly BarnesSource: News Corp Australia

JOYLEEN Thomas’s career began at 42, after she spent two decades out of the paid workforce to raise her family.

Now approaching 74, Mrs Thomas has worked from the “bottom of the rung” to become the oldest full-time worker of 2000 employees at aged care provider ACH Group and has no plans to retire.

Part of her job at ACH’s Adelaide headquarters is to evaluate programs to improve the quality of life of aged care residents.

“I have no idea when I will give up work … quite a lot of people I know have left and then come back into the workforce. My ­husband is an accountant; he works two days a week and he’s older than me,’’ she said.

INTERACTIVE: The InterGenerational Report

“It’s my choice. My husband says that I’m healthier and more vibrant than when I was home with my children. What we know today is that people like me may live to 100 — we don’t want to just exist for those years.”

Mrs Thomas said although her husband had experienced ageism when seeking work after an initial retirement at 67, she had felt no pressure to retire from her role.

Although the Intergenerational Report projects Australians over 65 will increase workforce participation this year, reaching 17.3 per cent in 2054-55, finding a job at an advanced age was proving difficult, said Mark Henley, advocacy manager for ­financial counselling and community support service Uniting Communities.

He said financial pressures were forcing more older people back to work beyond retirement.

“We see more older people wanting and needing work ­because they can’t afford to retire. Jobs for older people is more the issue we see,’’ he said.

Council on the Ageing South Australian chief executive Jane Mussared said the report’s aim to increase Australians’ longevity and health should be celebrated.

“But we also need to increase the opportunities for older people to stay in and, in many cases, get back into, the workforce,’’ she said.

Although work participation rates are expected to fall by 2.2 per cent to 62.4 per cent by 2055, Ms Mussared said the participation rate of people aged over 55 was climbing slowly climbing.

 

Source The Australian

Employers called on to value older workers

Tom Lowrey

Posted 

Primer Minister elect Tony Abbott with Cowper MP Luke HartsuykerPHOTO: Cowper MP Luke Hartsuyker with Prime Minister Tony Abbott

Assistant Employment Luke Hartsuyker says local employers need to start seeing the value of older workers.

The Federal Government’s Intergenerational Report, released yesterday, found people will need to retire much later in decades ahead due to the ageing population.

Just 13 percent of people aged over 65 are currently working or looking for work.

Older workers bring to their enterprise a wealth of experience

Assistant Employment Minister and Cowper MP, Luke Hartsuyker

Mr Hartsuyker said those numbers are going to have to rise, as people continue to live much longer lives.

The Cowper MP said employers also have a role to play, in placing more trust in older workers.

“I think it’s important that employers actively look for the benefits that older workers can bring,” he said.

“The Government has a role to play in providing incentives, where appropriate – that’s an important step.

“But I think its important that employers take into account that older workers bring to their enterprise a wealth of experience, a lifetime of experience.”

Mr Hartsuyker said the future of the nation’s economy depends on people working much later into their lives.

“That’s an important element, that we engage our older workers in the workforce, keep them in the workforce and keep them contributing, if we’re going to have the sort standard of living that we want for our future.”

Source: ABC

Time to think about older workers: experts

It’s well and truly time to start thinking about how to make older workers feel welcome, experts say.

“Let’s get over our shock that older workers are going to be there longer and now ask the question about how can we make that useful and productive for everyone,” University of South Australia human resource management research professor Carol Kulik says.

“I think we really do need to be much more accommodating for older workers.”

The experts have some tips for both older workers and employers.

* FOR MATURE-AGE PEOPLE TRYING TO FIND A JOB:

BE PERSISTENT

It’s going to be tough, it’s difficult, but the key thing is to keep at it,” says Greg Goudie, executive director of South Australian employment service DOME (Don’t Overlook Mature Expertise).

BE CONFIDENT

“They’ve got so much to offer. They probably don’t know how much they do have to offer,” Kronos Australia and New Zealand managing director Peter Harte says.

He advises learning how to write a resume and remarket yourself.

“You’d be surprised at the great things that person’s done that they haven’t really recorded.”

NETWORK

Mr Goudie says older workers shouldn’t be afraid to knock on doors, as 80 per cent of jobs that are filled are never advertised.

RE-EXAMINE YOUR WORK EXPERIENCE

Mature-age people do have work experience skills, even if it’s stating that you’re able to work in a group with other people.

“A lot of employers hold that in high regard,” Mr Goudie says.

LEARN A DIFFERENT SKILL

Skilled workers have a greater chance of staying in the workforce than unskilled workers, Mr Harte says.

He advises learning a different type of skill and make sure employers know they can be very flexible.

GET ASSISTANCE

A lot of people who get to 50 and 55 and are out of work for a year can think it’s all too hard and `I’ll just give it up”, Mr Goudie says.

* FOR EMPLOYERS AND THE BROADER COMMUNITY:

GOVERNMENT’S RESTART PROGRAM

The federal government’s restart program – offering a $10,000 incentive to hire and retain job seekers aged 50 and over who’ve been receiving income support – may be counterproductive, Edith Cowan University psychology discipline leader Dr Eyal Gringart says.

“The message this policy sends is that older workers are inferior to younger workers and require special consideration.”

THINK ABOUT THE SIGNALS SENT TO OLDER WORKERS

Organisations don’t signal a very strong openness to older job applicants, Prof Kulik says.

Their websites can have photos of bright, shiny young people and talk about fun and high-energy environments.

“It’s very easy I think for an older job seeker to think `that’s a signal, that’s a code for saying you don’t want somebody like me’. It’s a very discouraging process.”

HELP WORKERS UPSKILL

Mature-age workers in organisations that adopt specific mature-age practices report high levels of engagement, Prof Kulik says.

The practices can be to help older workers upskill, having alternative career paths so an employee can move into phased retirement, take on a new work assignment or mentor junior people.

FLEXIBILITY

Organisations haven’t thought much about what kind of flexibility older workers need, Prof Kulik says.

It’s not start times or which days they work. It’s opportunities to take extended leaves of absence if they have to for health reasons or alternatively to travel, while maintaining their job security.

SOME INDUSTRIES NEED TO ACT NOW

Professionals and managers tend to have more flexibility and autonomy, Prof Kulik says.

It’s not as clear what will happen for people with physically demanding jobs such as construction workers, miners and plumbers if flexibility isn’t offered, she says.

“Either we’re going to have to retrain them and do some kind of major career shift that works better or we’re going to have to be a lot more flexible about thinking about how work can be designed.”

Source:9news.com.au

Joe Hockey asks Aussie workers to save the nation by delaying retirement until after 65

•40,000 Aussies will reach the age of 100 by the middle of the century

•Life expectancy will jump to 97 for women and 95 for men

•By 2055, number of people reaching retirement will have doubled

•Unexpected trend shows many over-60s already returning to work OLDER Australians are being urged to stay in the workforce longer to support a rapidly ageing population.

Treasurer Joe Hockey yesterday issued a call to arms for workers to delay their ­retirement until after 65 to ­future-proof the nation for the coming generations. It comes as the five-yearly Intergenerational ­Report, released today, reveals Australians born after 2055 are expected to live to an average of almost 100 years, placing a massive burden on the shrinking tax base needed to pay for the demographic shift.

Almost 40,000 Australians will have reached 100 by the middle of the century, an increase of well over 300 times the 122 people of that age alive in 1974-75. And more than two million will be aged over 85 — compared with 80,000 in the mid-1970s — representing a fivefold increase to almost 5 per cent of the population. “We need a call to arms for a grey army,” Mr Hockey told The Daily Telegraph. “We want you. We want you at the front. Not grey nomads but a grey army of workers.”

The report says that with improvements in health and new technologies, the average life expectancy of Australians will be 95 years for men and 97 for women by 2055, compared with 80.7 and 84.8 now. In 1905 it was just 55 and 59.

Life expectancyLife expectancy Joe Hockey needs YOU … to delay retirement. .

 

But illustrating the looming budget and economic crisis awaiting Australia if pre-emptive social and fiscal reforms are not undertaken now, the report also reveals the number of people reaching the current retirement age of 65 will have almost doubled by 2055.

The problem for the next generation is that the ratio between the number of people of traditional working age — between 15 and 65 — and retirees will have halved. In 1970, there were an average of 7.5 people of working age relative to those of pension age. This has shrunk to 4.5 today, and it will again halve by 2055 to just 2.7 workers for every retiree. “There will be fewer people of traditional working age relative to each person aged over 65,” the report says.

The strain on the economy and the federal budget due to a shrinking number of workers paying income tax relative to those of pension age will be immense. But in encouraging signs that older people are willing to work if the opportunities are created, the ­report forecasts that about 20 per cent of all people aged over 65 will still be participating in the workforce.

The report reveals an emerging and unexpected trend showing over-65s are already returning to work. The damage to pension funds caused by the global ­financial crisis meant many people could not afford to ­retire, and this trend will continue. Today, some 10 per cent of over-65s are working, and this is forecast to rise to 20 per cent by 2055. The Greens said they would push for the report to be referred to a Senate budget committee for scrutiny.

KEITH’S ONLY TOO HAPPY TO SHELVE HIS RETIREMENT

Ian Walker RETIREMENT seemed a good idea at the time. But after a couple of years out of the workforce, Keith Wardle, 59, from Rouse Hill decided days working on the house were not doing it for him.

Now working as an assistant at Masters Home Improvement’s new Rouse Hill store, the former Rolls Royce customer service worker loves his new lease on work life. “I was just excited about the chance of getting back out there to become more active,” Mr Wardle said.

Keith Wardle, 60, at work yesterday in his second career, at Masters Home Improvement  “I wanted to get back into the workforce, the DIY thing was fine but I wanted to get back out there and start challenging myself. “I had no idea how it was going to work out, but within a few weeks I was really enjoying what I wanted to get back into the workforce, the DIY thing was fine but I wanted to get back out there and start challenging myself Keith Wardle I was doing. For the last couple of months I’ve been flat out. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.” As one of the more experienced hands on the floor with 40 years of technical experience, Mr Wardle has passed on pearls of wisdom to younger workers he has taken under his wing.

Preparing him and his wife for long-term retirement also pushed him to start earning again. Mostly, however, it was the chance to make his DIY passion his livelihood. The full-time appliances showroom assistant does not plan on retiring for a second time any time soon. “I just want to keep going. I like to be occupied, I like to be active.”

Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au

 

Australian women want to work until they’re older, but study says it’s not so easy

  • MARCH 05, 2015
Joe Hockey says Australians need to be encouraged to work until later in life, but they s

Joe Hockey says Australians need to be encouraged to work until later in life, but they say it’s not that easy. Source: Getty Images

GOOD luck with your ‘grey army’ Joe Hockey. Ageism is alive and well among employers, according to a study of Australian women.

The treasurer is urging older Australians to stay in the workforce beyond the age of 65 as the government’s five-yearly Intergenerational Report will today reveal Australians will soon have a life expectancy of almost 100.

The report suggests those who are not working, women in particular, need to be encouraged to get employment, re-enter the workforce, or prolong their careers.

Join the grey army ... Joe Hockey’s report says older women need to be encouraged to work

Join the grey army … Joe Hockey’s report says older women need to be encouraged to work longer. Source: News Corp Australia

But ask older women, and they’ll tell you it’s not that easy.

A survey of 14,000 Australian women has revealed almost half believe they had personally been discriminated against because of their age, and 62 per cent of respondents believed employers are more likely to hire a candidate under the age of 40.

Sydney case worker Janice Quillity was made redundant when the company she worked for restructured three years ago, and has found it difficult to find work ever since, and believes it has a lot to do with her age.

The 53-year-old was told bluntly by an employment agency she should give up looking for work in her profession and just go for “a survival job”.

“I was told, just face it, you’re too old,” she says.

“When you’re competing for work with younger women, who may not be as qualified, who can be paid less and have a work ethic that’s more in line with the cost-cutting measures that employers seem to have in place, then it seems a lot harder.”

Life expectancy

Source: DailyTelegraph

Ms Quillity relocated from the south coast to Sydney where she thought there would be more opportunity, and is desperate to find a job.

“I’m 53, I’m still a long way from retirement, I’m still needing work,” she says.

“I guess younger candidates might look better in suits, they might communicate better and it is competitive, but us older workers have a stronger work ethic. Especially in care professions, we really care.”

CEO of the Heat Group, the company that conducted the study, Gillian Franklin, says she was not surprised by the results, and thought the Treasurer’s suggestion older women needed to be encouraged to stay in the workforce was off the mark.

“That is a huge challenge. It’s not because women don’t want to work, it’s not because older people don’t want to work, but because employers discriminate against them,” she says.

“I was disappointed that the number is still as high. We’re aware that women believe they are discriminated against in the workplace because of their age and appearance, but employers should value experience of both older and younger workers to bring diversity to the workplace.”

Source:  News Limited

Ageism in the workplace hurts us all

Date:  March 3, 2015 

Joe Hockey

To safeguard our way of life, we must keep people in jobs and the economy growing.

Older workers have expertise based on years of experience and make an important contribution to the economy.

Older workers have expertise based on years of experience and make an important contribution to the economy. Photo: James Alcock

I suspect if you were to ask many of those in their late 40s and older if ageism could hold Australia back, their answer would be “yes”. That disappointing view would invariably be based on their personal experiences in the workforce.

 Ageism will hold us back because, with an ageing population, we need to increase participation by older  workers in the workforce.The evidence over recent decades indicates older people are underemployed for longer periods than younger workers.  Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show more than 35 per cent of jobseekers aged 55 and over stopped looking for work because they believed potential employers thought they were too old.

As a society, we are discarding valuable older workers far too early. 

These older  people excluded from the workforce account for more than half the total number of jobseekers who gave up looking for work.

Older workers face ageist stereotypes and biases, especially in the workplace and in recruitment. These negative attitudes label them as too costly, too inflexible and too difficult to train.  As a society, we are discarding valuable older workers far too early.

To safeguard our way of life, we must maintain our incomes and keep people in jobs. In short, we need to keep the economy growing. One of the key drivers of long-term growth is widely recognised as having more people in the workforce.

Unfortunately, if we do not adjust our approach, the long-term outlook for Australia is lower economic growth. Why? Because our population and our economy are changing and that will impact heavily on our workforce participation.

 The government will soon launch the 2015 intergenerational report. The report is the most comprehensive examination of demography and current policy. It evaluates how these changes will affect the economy and government finances over the next 40 years.

 It will show there will be fewer people of traditional working age as a proportion of the population in the years to come. Over the next decade, the working population is expected to increase by 12 per cent, while the population over 65 is expected to increase by 36 per cent. That is, the number of people aged over 65 will grow three times faster than the traditional working-age population.

The number of people in the traditional workforce supporting those who have left the workforce will nearly halve over the next 40 years.

On the one hand, this a problem, because as the population ages and more people leave the workforce, tax revenues will struggle to fund the same level of government services we enjoy today. On the other hand, this is an opportunity to encourage greater workforce participation, especially among underappreciated and underutilised older people.

We must not fall into the trap of viewing an ageing population as a burden. Older  people will be critical to maintaining the economic growth that has underpinned the advances in our standards of living and quality of life.

According to the age discrimination commissioner: “As a society, we have been slow to recognise that millions of older Australians are locked out of the workforce by age discrimination. We are only now starting to understand what a terrible waste of human capital this situation represents; a loss to the national economy and to businesses large and small, and a loss to the individual who is pushed out of the workforce prematurely.”

Deloitte Access Economics estimates a 3 per cent increase in participation by the over 55s would generate a $33 billion annual boost to the national economy. A 5 per cent increase in participation, would see a $48 billion boost to the economy.

If Australia’s workforce participation rate for those aged over 65 increased to that of New Zealand over the next  10 years, this would result in a boost to Australia’s real gross domestic product of about $40 billion in 2024-25.

Older workers  contribute knowledge and skills based on years of experience and expertise. We need older  people working and contributing to our economic growth.

 Also, people who work longer accrue more superannuation savings and are less reliant on the pension during retirement.

There is a strong correlation between workforce participation and health status. Continuing to work  protects against physical ill-health and poor mental health. Data shows people staying in the workforce past retirement age tend to have better health compared with those not working.

Older workers also report the need for flexibility in their working hours or part-time arrangements so they can fit in caring responsibilities or manage sickness or disability.

The decline in participation rates of older workers only aggravates the problem of age dependency and rising social expenditures. Ignoring a pool of productive workers in the face of a falling participation rate will affect our economic growth.

If these trends continue, we as a society will be contributing to a decline in our standard of living. So let’s reverse the traditional attitudes, embrace a longer life and look for ways to redesign our lives so we can enjoy prosperity along the way.

Joe Hockey is the federal Treasurer.

 

The Suddenly Hot Job Market for Workers Over 50

Barclay's bank
Dominic Lipinski—PA Wire/Press Association Images

More companies are recognizing the value of mature workers—and they’re starting to hire them.

Things are finally looking up for older workers.

The latest data show the unemployment rate for those over age 55 stands at just 4.1%, compared with 5.7% for the total population and a steep 18.8% for teens. The ranks of the long-term unemployed, which ballooned during the recession as mature workers lost their jobs, are coming down. Age-discrimination charges have fallen for six consecutive years. And now, as the job market lurches back to life, more companies are wooing the silver set with formal retraining programs.

This is not to say that older workers have it easy. Overall, the long-term unemployment rate remains stubbornly high—31.5%. And even though age-discrimination charges have declined they remain at peak pre-recession levels. Meanwhile, critics note that some corporate re-entry programs are not a great deal, paying little or no salary and distracting workers from seeking full-time gainful employment.

Still, the big picture is one of improving opportunity for workers past age 50. That’s welcome news for many reasons, not least is that those who lose their job past age 58 are at greater health risk and, on average, lose three years of life expectancy. Meanwhile, older workers are a bigger piece of the labor force. Two decades ago, less than a third of people age 55 and over were employed or looking for work. Today, the share is 40%, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

AARP and others have long argued that older workers are reliable, flexible, experienced and possess valuable institutional knowledge. Increasingly, employers seem to want these traits.

This spring, the global bank Barclays will expand its apprenticeship program and begin looking at candidates past age 50. The bank will consider mature workers from unrelated fields, saying the only experience they need is practical experience. The bank says this is no PR stunt; it values older workers who have life experience and can better relate to customers seeking a mortgage or auto loan. With training, the bank believes they would make good, full-time, fairly compensated loan officers.

Already, Barclays has a team of tech-savvy older workers in place to help mature customers with online banking. The new apprenticeship program builds on this effort to capitalize on the life skills of experienced employees.

Others have tiptoed into this space. Goldman Sachs started a “returnship” in the throes of the recession. But the program is only a 10-week retraining exercise, with competitive pay, and highly selective. About 2% of applicants get accepted. It is not designed as a gateway to full-time employment at Goldman, though some older interns end up with job offers at the bank.

The nonprofit Encore.com offers mature workers a one-yearfellowship, typically in a professional capacity at another nonprofit, to help mature workers re-enter the job market. Again, this is a temporary arrangement and pays just $25,000.

But a growing number of organizations—the National Institutes of Health, Stanley Consultants, and Michelin North America, amongmany others—embrace a seasoned workforce and have programs designed to attract and keep workers past 50. Companies with internship programs for older workers include PwC, Regeneron, Harvard Business School, MetLife and McKinsey.

Source:  Money

The economic potential of older people is being ignored

Date

Susan Ryan

Was I the only person in Australia who congratulated Treasurer Joe Hockey on his observation that the first person to live to 150 might already be born?

Not only have medical scientists confirmed the comment, the shock value of contemplating our 150th birthdays should have had all economists, employers, business chiefs and mid-age individuals  focusing seriously on how to extend the working life of most Australians. Moving towards a stage where 70 rather than 60 becomes the average retirement age is what our economy needs, and what older people themselves are often seeking.

Health experts constantly remind us that the working older person is healthier than the non-working older person, and happier. These realities should provide a constructive context for the appearance of the Intergenerational Report. The IGRs, and we are up to our fourth, set out the long-term budget implications of ever-rising numbers of individuals living for more years on the age pension and public health, over a period where the proportion of the working population younger than 65 is declining.

The expenditures as predicted are unsustainable, but they are not inevitable. Obvious and realistic policy change would pull the figures into better balance, into “sustainability”. The objective of changing the ratios by increasing the numbers of older workers should be in this conversation from the beginning.

With past IGRs, positive policy opportunities have been drowned by waves of negativity about the unadorned outlook figures. The last Intergenerational Report spoke only of the “risks” and “challenges” of our ageing population, and the dramatic reduction of the proportion of those of working age to support those older than 65. It highlighted the pressures on health spending in relation to the ageing population.

It implied and was widely interpreted as insisting that all those older than 65 are in need of substantial and growing public support. It set up a dichotomy between younger/older as good/bad. It implied that ageing only meant illness, decline and burdening the public purse. The economic potential of older people was ignored. This approach perpetuates unhelpful stereotypes of older people and obstructs the development of a policy approach where younger and older generations can work co-operatively.

Why are individuals leaving paid work at 60, or often earlier, rather than 70? Even if they are more likely to live to 100 instead of 150, four decades without earned income and the satisfaction of work is too many. Age discrimination in employment is a huge barrier preventing older Australians from continuing in the workforce. One in five unemployed people older than 45 report that their main difficulty in finding work is that they are considered too old by employers. We know that one in 10 business respondents have an age above which they will not recruit – the average age is 50 years.

We also know that helping older people participate would boost our economy. Deloitte Access Economics research shows that increasing the number of Australians older than 55 in paid employment by 5% would result in a $48 billion impact on the national economy.

This can happen. The percentage of the people aged 55-64 in the workforce in Australia is 61.5 per cent, and has remained stable since 2012. Compare this to New Zealand, where the percentage is 74.4 per cent. Since 2012 Australia has dropped from 11th to 13th place for workforce participation of older workers among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development  countries.

The longer people work, the more superannuation they will have. The IGR is an opportunity to review the longer-term effects of the current application of tax benefits for super.

Like other “too hard basket” changes, this policy should be brought out of the basket and included in the discussion. Tax-favoured superannuation was originally introduced so that more people could achieve independence in retirement. What is the public policy purpose of continuing the provision of substantial tax benefits well beyond the point where individuals have achieved the means to support a high standard of living in retirement? Might not those tax benefits be better redirected to those whose retirement savings fall well below an adequate standard and who have only the age pension in prospect?

Providing age pension benefits to increasing numbers of individuals who possess well in excess of the means for a very comfortable retirement might not be best practice in targeting welfare dollars. Requiring high-net-worth individuals to make a larger contribution to the costs of their aged care could be in the interests of improved fairness and efficiency and improved quality of care.

I hope the Treasurer’s release of the IGR data will bring into focus some realistic and purposeful discussion around these policy directions.

I see this Intergenerational Report as an important opportunity to present what could happen if we stopped age discrimination and increased the participation of older workers. Rather than emphasising doom, gloom and negative stereotypes, I urge the Treasurer to show what would happen if we mitigated the worst-case scenario by leading the world in employment practices that embrace fairness and improved opportunity for older workers through flexibility, retraining, and intergenerational initiatives.

We all understand the population is ageing. Surely now we are ready to have a conversation about how to realise the economic and social potential this longevity represents.

Susan Ryan is Age Discrimination Commissioner.

Source:  SMH

 
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