Posts Tagged “mature age”

Gen Z falling through the cracks of economic recovery

Date September 23, 2014 Michael Emerson

Jobs are growing at a faster rate for baby boomers, and Australians in their twilight years, than for youth and young adults.

These surprising statistics are revealed in a study conducted for Fairfax Media.

Since the global financial crisis of 2008, Australian jobs have grown steadily, with 870,000 jobs added to the economy. However, the growth among lifestage segments has been varied. This has led to significant attitudinal changes among workers to employment, especially among the younger Gen Z (teens) and Gen Y (young adults) segments.

As the chart shows, among full time jobs, Gen Z and Gen Y, have lost employment since 2008Gen Z has lost 48,000 jobs whereas for Gen Y the market has shrunk by 54,000 jobs, according to labour force data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, modelled by EMDA, a business solution company, for Fairfax Media.

So what’s happened?

In any economic downturn, the young and least experienced suffer the most. Before the global crisis, Gen Z and Gen Y were known to be demanding. They were used to jobs being plentiful and so could pick and choose. Loyalty to an employer was an old-fashioned idea to them.

In the more difficult job market since 2008, there have been profound changes in attitudes, such as delivering value to employers and concerns over the security of employment have become more prominent.

Unemployment among the younger segments is also the highest in the workforce. Among Gen Z it’s three times the average than for the rest of the workforce.

Among Gen Z there are sub-segments, which signal extremely concerning employment outcomes. Among indigenous Gen Z, unemployment rates are just over 30 per cent and among Gen Z new arrivals to Australia the rate is 42 per cent, according to census data.

Lack of education and work-related skills are major barriers to employment for these segments, and if unemployed for six months or more, it’s hard to get them into the workforce. Consequently, entrenched unemployment with its social and financial problems for the individual and society become the norm.

Education remains a key for a successful entry to the workforce.

For baby boomers, the job market has continued to be one of steady growth, with 240,000 full-time jobs added for this segment since 2008. Their experience and skills have kept them in good stead.

The real surprise is the growth in twilight careers (workers aged 63 or more). Although the smallest segment of the workforce, there are now 580,000 twilight workers employed, which is only slightly less than Gen Z (681,000). For this segment, 79,000 full-time jobs have been created since 2008. Their lifetime of work skills, their loyalty and reliability is increasingly appreciated by employers.

There is still some resistance to employing older workers, although this attitude is gradually changing. This is good for twilight workers and the economy overall, but the downside could be there are fewer older Australians available to provide care for their grandkids. The numbers are significant: according to the census about 350,000 Australians over the age of 63 cared for other children, so more twilight workers in the paid workforce means less time available for child care duties. For Generation X parents, this can be a significant issue as one important factor which contributes to labour market participation among parents in the Gen X lifestage is access to child care.

Michael Emerson, is an economist and director of Economic and Market Development Advisors, EMDA. emda.com.au.

Source: The Age

How your resume is turning off employers

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

Always customise your resume to the specific job you’re applying for. Source: News Limited

The majority of job seekers aren’t using their resumes to paint themselves in the best light, new research finds.

Three quarters of human resources professionals say one of the reasons they’re having trouble finding qualified candidates for their open positions is because of poor resumes, according to a study from the career network Beyond.

Overall, 73 per cent of the HR pros surveyed believe job candidates are doing a bad job of tailoring their resume to the specific position they’re applying for, and less than 30 per cent of job seekers say they always customise their resume to a specific job.

That means the majority of candidates are not taking advantage of the opportunity to highlight their most relevant experiences and to prove to employers that they are worthy of an interview, the study’s authors said.

Further underlining their need to alter the way in which they present themselves to employers, many of those looking for work aren’t sure whether hiring managers are looking for their hard skills, such as degrees and technical training, or their soft skills, like communication and teamwork, according to the research.

The study revealed that while hard skills will get candidates in the door, it’s their soft skills that will get them the job. Nearly 70 per cent of the HR professionals surveyed look at hard skills first when searching for candidates. Fifty-six per cent, however, said that the most important abilities in a new hire — and those that often get them the job — are soft skills, especially interpersonal relations.

“There’s no secret password for getting hired, however, job seekers can increase their chances by highlighting hard skills in their resumes and demonstrating soft skills during the interview process,” Beyond’s vice president of marketing, Joe Weinlick, said in a statement. “Many job seekers have the right ingredients; now they need to put them in the right order.”

The study was based on surveys of nearly 4,000 job seekers and human resources professionals.

This article originally appeared on Business News Daily and was republished with permission.

What’s the real cost of ageism?

By Neil Patrick and Dean Goranson

The debate about the relationship between employee age and business performance has been going on for ever. But the recent economic turmoil and its after effects on young and old alike have resulted in the topic surfacing again. It’s time to ditch the prejudices.

Employer attitudes can be summarised as:

Younger workers are cheaper to hire, have more up-to-date skills – especially in the area of technology and have more energy and dynamism. They also have lower reliability and significantly less loyalty.

Older workers stick around for much longer than their younger peers. They attain greater mastery of their work and have higher interpersonal skills. But they are also more expensive, less energetic and struggle with today’s technology.

This simplified view distorts the real question. There is no simple correlation between employee age and business performance. Having an older or younger workforce doesn’t automatically make your business perform better or worse. Neither does providing a great working environment result in greater staff loyalty.

The surprising truths about age and employee retention

According to the PayScale report, the Fortune 500 company with the highest median employee tenure (20 years) is Eastman Kodak. More than half of its employees are older than 50. Over the five years through 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, it delivered an average return on assets of negative 12%…

Another myth is that creating a great working environment and culture for staff increases loyalty.

The perks Google lays on for its youthful employees are the stuff of legend. Free gourmet food all day, the best health insurance plan anywhere, five months’ paid maternity leave, kindergartens and gyms at the workplace, the freedom to work on one’s own projects 20 percent of the time, even death benefits. The tech behemoth has topped Fortune Magazine’s list of best companies to work for every year since 2007.

Despite this, Google ranks amongst those with the highest employee turnover rates. The median employee tenure at Google is just over one year, according to the payroll consultancy PayScale.

The simple truths are staring us in the face

So what are businesses to do? If you hire younger people, you are burdened with higher turnover rates. If your workforce is older, you risk stagnation and loss of competitive edge.

A friend of mine, Dean Goranson has provided a valuable perspective which I provide below. It’s a simple tale about his experiences when seeking to get his watch strap repaired.

Here’s Dean’s tale:

A while back I had somehow managed to break the watch band on my high end wrist watch. I finally got tired of running around with it in my pocket, so one day I decided to go down to the mall and check out the jewellery stores to either get it fixed or replaced.

The first store I stopped in, I showed the young lady my watch. She took it to her manager. He asked if I had purchased the watch in their store. I said , ”No”. He replied, “I’m sorry it’s the store’s policy to only work on Items we sell from here.” I then asked, “Isn’t that the style of watch you have in your display case?” “Well yes” was this young man’s reply “but we don’t service anything we haven’t sold. Perhaps you should try that watch band kiosk across from us.” This young manager who must of been well on the south side of thirty was definite in his conviction of his being right. Consumer experience was nowhere to be found on his radar screen. So off to the kiosk to see if I would have any better luck there.

The experience with the young lady who also appeared to be well on the south side of thirty turned out to be quite similar to the first store I had stopped at. I asked if she thought she could fix my watch band. “No, I’m afraid I can’t. We only sell watch bands and put them on for the customer and I don’t have anything that nice. I have an imitation leather if you want me to put that on for you?” I declined and bid her adieu. I really started to feel like this was becoming a quest by this point with no easy answers, yet on I trudged to the next jewellery store.

At the third store I was confronted by another well under thirty something young fella. I showed him the watch and asked if they could fix it “Let me get my manager.” The manager is summoned. Another under 30 something, he takes a look at the watch and say’s “Let’s see what my jeweller can do with this.” so over to the jewellers station we go he looks at it and say’s ” I’m not going to be able to fix this band.” the manager then asks ” Do we have any watch bands in the store to replace this?’ They look and no can do. “Well, I guess we’ll need to call home office to order a replacement.”

The manager asked the jeweller to call home office for the order, the jeweller came back and said he couldn’t get home office on the phone. The manager then asked, “Let me get your phone number and I will call you as soon as I find out something.” At least this young manager was trying to make my experience worthwhile but his operation was in such a state of chaos that he couldn’t make it happen. So off I went disappointed and frustrated.

By now I was a bit dejected at not being able to either get my watch band fixed or replaced.

Walking past the fourth jewellery store, I happened to look in and behind the counter were a couple of ladies. They were well up in age – the grey hair, the glasses and thick figures. I thought to myself what the heck, let’s see if they have any ideas.

Into the store I go and ask these two women, “I’ve got a broken watch band is there anything you can do with it?” “Let me see it,” the white haired gal asked. “We’ve only just started selling this brand of watch; you’ve had yours for a while haven’t you?” “Yes I have.” I could tell in her mind she was fussing over what her next move was going to be. “Let’s take this over to Bill and see what he has to say”.

So over to Bill we go who turns out to be their manager. He too is older and greying. The lady explains the situation to him and asks what they could do to help me. Bill looks at me and says ” Technically I’m not supposed to work on a watch we haven’t sold to a customer, the upper management has the fear we will get sued by someone who claims we broke their stuff.” “You wouldn’t do something like that if I worked on your watch would you?” I said “It’s already broken, what have I got to lose.”

Bill then asks,” Where did your watch fit on your wrist before the band broke?” I showed him and he said “Let me try something.” He took my watch over to another counter and came back in a couple of minutes and said “See if that fits over your hand?” My watch fits better now than it did before I broke the band. Bill even refused to charge for the repair.

A few weeks later it was a good friend’s birthday. And I bought her some diamond earrings. Did I shop around? No I just went straight back to Bill…

Horses for coursesDean’s experience is not research data of course. It’s no more or less than a personal experience. But I am sure it is one that most of us can relate to and have probably shared.

In the effort to improve on profits, what ends up being missed is the consumer experience – the part which keeps the customer coming back for more and recommending the business to others. This hinges on those people the business owner has retained to be the company’s representatives to the public. The higher the quality service the customer receives, the better the results for the business.

As Dean’s story relates, the different levels of service received directly influenced his purchase behaviour now and probably for many years to come. An older employee might be well past the dynamic approach of their youth. But today, youthful distractions are behind them. They have the rich experience of what quality service and customer care really mean.

It seems to me that it’s time to forget the over-simplistic and pointless debate of young versus old. What we need is a simple recognition that age in and of itself is not the issue. Skills and attitudes are what matter. If you want to give your customers excellent service, there is a strong argument for hiring older people. And even if they are slightly more expensive, you’ll recover these costs in longer tenure and enhanced customer loyalty. If you need the sort of perspective that the young have and can afford to replace them frequently, then hire young people. But don’t expect there’s anything you can do to keep them for long.

Let’s not be trapped by the pointless argument about which is better. The key to getting the best business results is about understanding the distinct merits of young and old, making hiring decisions on the value of each and the requirements of the role regardless of the candidate’s age.

Don’t let age bias limit your opportunities!

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Beverly Jones

Age Discrimination Starts Early!

These Strategies Can Help.

While finishing her MBA at a top tier university, Sarah was enthusiastically recruited by a large company. She accepted their offer to join the marketing department. Once there, she connected with a powerful mentor who helped her snag plum assignments. For several years Sarah was the most junior professional in her group, and she enjoyed being treated like a young star.

After a few years, the growing company made a wave of new hires and Sarah began to feel neglected. She said she was stuck with routine workwhile the interesting new projects went to her younger colleagues.

Sarah was asked to supervise the internship program, but didn’t enjoy the work. She said the interns didn’t have the right work ethic and were obsessed by technology. One day as she entered the kitchen, she heard them making fun of her for being clueless about the power of social media.

When Sarah came to me for coaching, she complained that she was past her career peak. She felt like she was cut off from the company’s high potential challenges and might be too old to compete for another good job elsewhere. Sarah was 34 at the time.

Sarah felt she was the victim of age discrimination and to some degree her concerns were well founded. Ageism is rampant in the workplace and can be hard to fight. And even 30-something careerists like Sarah can find themselves sidelined by employers seeking fresh talent.

Sarah found ways to demonstrate her energy, talent and enthusiasm, and soon worked her way out of her slump. One thing that helped her was finding examples of older professionals whose age did need not seem to limit their success. She noticed that while some in her circle were dissed for being out of date, others seemed timeless despite their years.

If you’re facing a subtle age bias, a starting point for getting past it is to understand the negative stereotypes on which it’s based. Then make it clear that the stereotypes don’t fit you. Consider these strategies for minimizing the burden of ageism:

Be tech-savvy. You don’t have to enjoy Skyping, sharing on Instagram or building a Twitter community. But if those are the ways that your colleagues or customers communicate, you absolutely must know how to join in. If you want to stay in the game, keep up with the technology. Take classes or find help, buy the devices, and do whatever it takes to keep your skills current. And when you don’t understand the latest developments, avoid the temptation to indulge in a Luddite rant. Express an interest, ask for assistance and get on board.

Look and act fit. Some employers and younger workers believe that their older colleagues may have physical limitations that will prevent them from performing their fair share of the work. And your boss or clients won’t offer you new challenges if they think you are about to have a heart attack. If you want to maximize your career options, it is vital not only that you stay healthy but also that you look healthy and you exude energy.

Talk healthy. Most of us have health issues from time to time, but we can manage the way they impact us in the workplace. Beware of sabotaging yourself by talking too much about your symptoms or crises. If you endlessly discuss your health challenges, not only will you be boring, but people may start to think of you as frail and over the hill. Talk about the great hike you took last weekend, instead of how sore you felt on Monday morning.

Be stylish. Looking shabby may seem cool when you’re 27. But the older you get, the more important it is to look polished and up to date. If your clothes, hairdo or glasses seem out of style, you may seem like you are past your prime. That doesn’t mean you should dress like a kid, but you should aim for a look that feels current.

Don’t bring up your age. If you are older – or younger – than the people you work with, it is very tempting to keep mentioning that fact. But if you can refrain from alluding to the age difference, there is a good chance that other people will forget about it.

Build a varied network. If you are accustomed to hanging out with friends of all ages, you are more likely to blend easily into a group of younger or older people. If you don’t allow age to be a barrier in your social life, you will be more comfortable talking and keeping up with different age groups at work.

Listen to your colleagues. A great starting point for building strong relationships at work is to genuinely listen to what other people have to say. If you’re part of the older set, show an interest in what younger folks say and learn from their perspective.

If you put aside your own prejudices about age and look for opportunities to work on projects with people of all generations, you’ll become more skillful at avoiding the burden of age bias.

Tough times ahead – the budget and older workers

Posted by Adam Blanch on 16 September 2014

The 2014 Federal Budget is mostly ‘stick’ and very little ‘carrot’ for older Australians. By reducing government support to older Australians, it will force many to work longer but offers few incentives to do so.

It’s not clear whether all the changes from the Federal Budget will make it through the Senate, but there are a few realities that older workers need to consider.

The major change is that the age pension will be both more difficult to obtain and of lower value. Income testing will be more stringent, with the income eligibility threshold being 35 per cent lower than it currently is. Superannuation will continue to be included in the asset test’, but super draw downs will now be considered income’ as well, making it harder to obtain a part pension.

Additionally, the age pension will now be indexed to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rather than the average male wage. Council on the Ageing (COTA) estimates that this means a real world reduction of $80 per person per week on a full pension within 10 years.

Last but not least, the age at which a person is eligible for the pension will increase from 67 years of age at a rate of six months every two years until it hits 70 years of age in 2035. This translates to Australia having the highest age for the age pension in any OECD country.

COTA – the leading national advocate for seniors – came out strong in response to the Federal Budget stating that: “The more vulnerable and disadvantaged groups within the community are being asked to take a disproportionate share of the burden of adjustment, including the young and the old.”

There will also be an increase in the income threshold for the Seniors Healthcare Card. The Seniors Supplement was abolished as of 1 July, 2014 and a new co-payment for both doctor’s visits ($7) and medications (80 cents) will be introduced. As seniors are the demographic most in need of medical assistance, this will hit them the hardest.

The other major change is to superannuation. The concessional superannuation contribution cap (contributions that are made before tax deductions) that you are permitted increases from $25,000 to $35,000 by 2015 for those over 50 years of age. The non-concessional cap (voluntary contributions from post-tax incomes) goes up from $150,000 to $180,000. This means that you can voluntarily build your super faster. However, for incomes over $300,000, the tax rate on super contributions still jumps from 15 per cent to 30 per cent.

Overall, older people are being encouraged’ to work longer and save more to support their retirement.

Judy Higgins, the general manager of the Older Workers job board, says that this means hard times ahead for some older Australians and women in particular.

“Older women reportedly have, on average, half the amount of super of males the same age,” she says.

“They earn less and are more likely to have significant gaps in employment due to childbirth, parenting or later in life caring duties.”

The only support program proposed in the Federal Budget is the introduction of the Restart programme, which offers employers up to $10,000 to employ an older worker. The payments are staged over two years and the person being employed must have been on benefits for more than six months.

The Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey says that this will help 32,000 older workers back into employment.

Yet Higgins disagrees.

“Previous incentive payments of these types have had little to no affect,” she says.

“We think the government has missed the mark with the Restart incentive, if the objective is to increase the number of older jobseekers being employed.”

This budget is about getting people to work longer and increase their own superannuation balances before retirement. Older workers in fulltime employment may be able to save more, but those who are not working and who do not have adequate super balances face a difficult future.

With falling support from government in managing the cost of living and healthcare, older workers will have to make up the difference from their earnings or superannuation, or start drawing against their assets earlier.

Source: The Living Well Navigator

Dead end jobs rising amid world struggle to meet demand for good quality work

STEPHEN DRILL HERALD SUN SEPTEMBER 09, 2014

AUSTRALIA is not producing enough quality jobs to keep up with population increases and the problem is getting worse, a new report shows.

The OECD report released on Tuesday reveals unless economic growth rises the jobs market will be filled with low paying jobs.

“The current growth trajectory, if unchanged, will not create enough quality jobs — give rising to the risk that the jobs gap will remain substantial,” the report says.

“Underemployment and informal employment will rise and sluggish growth in wages and incomes will continue to place downward pressure on consumption, living standards and global aggregate demand.”

The report also reveals that the gap between the highest paid and lowest paid workers was also widening.

The warning comes as employment ministers from G20 countries are meeting in Melbourne this week to discuss the global employment outlook.

The group’s membership includes Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and South East Asian and South American countries.

Australian Employment Minister Eric Abetz, US secretary of Labor Tom Perez and Britain’s Minister of State for Employment Esther McVey, who are in Melbourne for the meeting, all argued economic growth must continue to rise.

Mr Abetz said he expected jobs growth in agriculture, mining, services and aged care sectors.

“Business as usual will continue to see that jobs gap, that is in nobody’s interest, economic or socially,” he said.

He said free trade agreements with South Korea and reducing red tape would create jobs.

Tom Perez, US secretary of labor, said higher economic growth would create jobs.

“It’s undeniable one of our challenges in the US and across the G20 is to pick up the pace of growth,” he said.

“We are debating how we stimulate consumption… transportation infrastructure investments which are very real issues. Those not only address critical infrastructure, they create good middle class jobs.”

He said cyber security was an emerging sector.

Ms McVey said youth unemployment was dropping in the UK and that schools needed to teach subjects that led to jobs, particularly in science.

She said the private sector had picked up 2 million jobs in Britain since 2010.

“We really needed to look at rebalancing the economy — jobs right across the board,” she said.

stephen.drill@news.com.au

Forum proving older workers’ worth

Posted at 8:59am Monday 08 Sep, 2014 | By Merle Foster merle@thesun.co.nz

Removing the stigma surrounding employing older people and making businesses realise the ageing population’s enormous opportunity is the aim of a city forum this month.

Tauranga’s older residents and business people are encouraged to attend the Older Workforce Forum, hosted by Age Concern Tauranga and Chamber of Commerce.

Mitre 10 MEGA Tauranga team members Noel Meredith, 70, Dave Watson, 71, and Dave Semple, 74, with general manager Wayne Mansell. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Age Concern fundraising manager Michael Vujnovich says the forum will discuss the ‘why, how and spin-offs’ of workforce generation change.

“We’re trying to raise people’s awareness of the issue of an ageing workforce but enable them to realise there is an enormous opportunity here.

“If we continue with our old, outdated model of what it means to be getting old we’ll continue to fail to address the issues that confront older people and fail to address opportunities they present to employers and society as a whole.”

Guest speakerElders Forum chair Max Lewis says “65 is the new 45”. He believes older workers have as many benefits as others, just different.

“We need to lift the perception of age as being a positive. We’ve got to stop this perceived bias. We have so many talented people, and they want to be working.”

“If you can get them working where their strengths are, they can be offering advice and knowledge to younger staff, you’re getting 30 years of knowledge and experience.”

Max also sees Tauranga as the pace-setter for the whole country.

Mega Mitre 10 Tauranga general manager Wayne Mansell knows the benefits of older workers and will talk about his company’s diversity-friendly policies in action.

“The reason we look at employing people a bit older is simply experience – they have the knowledge and they also have the integrity of the work ethic.

“We have a number of retiree plumber and builders who’ve worked in the building game in the past and are looking to continue to stay in the workforce – and we’re happy to oblige.”

Wayne says older staff are also more flexible.

“They’re willing part-time or full-time hours, extra days don’t have issues around working weekends.”

An open floor discussion with the speaker panel will finish the forum on Thursday, September 18 from 8.30am-2.30pm at Mt Club, Totara St, Mount Maunganui.

– See more at: http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/81916-forum-proving-older-workers-worth.html#sthash.i7Dgy7UT.dpuf

Equality and the entitlement of age

The Drum, 2 Septembert 2014

Emily Millane, Research Fellow

	The Drum Unleashed, 2 September 2014

Our retirement income system is now skewed so heavily towards the wealthy in our society that we’re not just at risk of going nowhere, we risk going backwards, writes Emily Millane.It’s always slightly unnerving when the airline you’re flying with says it needs to take some time to redistribute the weight on the aircraft before you take off. Visions of a plane dragging one wing along the runway with sparks flying everywhere tend to ensue.

The fact is, the distribution of an aircraft’s weight needs to be calibrated in such a way that the thing can get off the ground, and back onto it, safely. And so it is with our tax and transfer system.

Distribute it right and you’re off; get the distribution wrong and society is on a fast track to nowhere.

Per Capita’s recent report, The Entitlement of Age, argues that, together, increasing longevity and rising inequality are making Australia’s retirement income system unsustainable. The structure of the system, combined with the distribution of benefits, is skewed so heavily towards the wealthy in our society that we’re not just at risk of going nowhere, we risk going backwards.

Notwithstanding differences as a result of race, education and socio-economic status, on average Australians have very high life expectancies. Indigenous Australians are the notable exception to this average

Per Capita’s findings show that we are living longer than previously estimated, largely as a result of declining mortality rates. We need to plan for longer lives, and we need incomes to pay for them.

The current system will not deliver retirement security, even if Australians work until they are 70. Some Australians will move into older age well funded but women, the low-paid and those in insecure work will not.

Per Capita’s research, using four different scenarios, shows that a woman retiring in 2049 who has children and works a mix of full-time and part-time hours will have only 60 per cent of the superannuation balance of a man the same age as her, a deficit of $358,000.

The way in which superannuation is taxed compounds the income insecurity faced by vulnerable groups. The concessional rate of tax on superannuation income relative to ordinary income, known as “superannuation tax concessions”, favours those with higher incomes.

If the Government is successful in removing the Low Income Superannuation Contribution, people on low incomes will pay more on their superannuation contributions than they do on ordinary income.

More than 50 per cent of the superannuation tax concessions go to the wealthiest 20 per cent Australians. At the same time, Per Capita’s annual tax survey showed that 42 per cent of people on incomes of $200,000 and above consider that the best way to pay for longer lives is through further superannuation tax concessions.

As detailed by the ACTU recently, the IMF has found that Australia foregoes more through tax expenditures than all other advanced economies it analysed. The largest areas of expenditure are housing and superannuation tax concessions.

What does all of this tell us? It tells us that people on the highest incomes have come to see the beneficial tax treatment of their superannuation as an entitlement. It tells us that any effort to change the shape of tax on superannuation to make it fairer will require political courage. It also tells us that change is necessary.

The Government’s proposed alterations to the age pension, particularly in respect of indexation, will mean that it does not provide a safety net from poverty. It is those same groups that are disadvantaged by the superannuation system that will face further financial precariousness as a result of these changes – the women, the low-paid and those engaged in insecure work.

Australia’s spending on the age pension is going up; no one is arguing with that. However, as the Treasurer found out with his comments in respect of the fuel excise, it’s the proportion of income that matters. Australia spends about 3.5 per cent of its GDP on the age pension compared with an average spend by other wealthy counties of 7.8 per cent of GDP.

So what of it? What does it matter that some people will have overseas holidays and theatre shows to look forward to in later life, while others will sit at home watching daytime TV? Or that some people will see medical specialists while others will put off seeing the GP?

It matters because these questions go to the issue of human dignity. Australians are entitled to incomes sufficient for a dignified life.

More broadly, these questions go to the issue of what sort of society we understand Australia to be. Whether we are all on this journey together, or whether it is OK that there is an increasing distance between people in economy, and the class of people who haven’t seen the back of a plane in years.

Illawarra baby boomers battle to find work

By GLEN HUMPHRIES

Aug. 31, 2014, 10 p.m.

Brent Peppercorn and his grandmother Linda Goldsmith, at right, who have been touring NSW with the Living Well Navigator meet Wollongong’s Susan Barnett.

Almost half of NSW baby boomers have had to face age discrimination, according to an NRMA survey.

The survey was carried out as part of the research into a new website – Living Well Navigator – directed at the over 50s.

Forty per cent of the respondents said they have experienced age discrimination themselves or knew of someone who had.

In addition, 37 per cent of people over 50 have little confidence they would be treated fairly in a job interview.

Peter Khoury from the NRMA said this was concerning, especially given the federal government’s plan to push back the retirement age to 70.

Mr Khoury said businesses needed to adjust to the realities that come with the ageing baby boomer population.

“There’s a lot of debate about the working age being extended, which means a lot of Australian companies need to be prepared for the fact that their workforce is going to be older than it used to be,” Mr Khoury said.

With more than half of the NRMA’s membership over the age of 50, the Navigator site aims to provide support for those looking to get back into the workforce.

“The Living Well Navigator site assists older workers by providing information on how to get jobs and volunteering information as well as hosting a jobs board to connect older workers with age-friendly employers,” said NRMA local director Michael Tynan.

“The site aims to bust common myths and stereotypes on ageing. Those north of 50 have comprehensive knowledge, are highly skilled, active and make valuable contributions to our society.”

The website provides a wide range of information for the over-50s – including work, health, travel and supported and independent living.

Source: Illawarra Mercury

Department of Human Services removes diversity clause

Date : September 2, 2014

Phillip Thomson

Public Service Reporter at The Canberra Times.

The main union representing public servants says the Department of Human Services has removed a clause enshrining the employment of people from diverse backgrounds from its draft bargaining agreement.

The major department employing about 30,000 staff is being closely watched during negotiations because haggling over its future agreement, which was much further ahead than at many other Commonwealth employers, was expected to set at least part of the agenda across the federal bureaucracy.

The clause was one mechanism in the existing agreement to ensure the department enforced a separate plan, titled the Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

The strategy has committed the department to employing more people with disabilities, mature age workers and staff from culturally and linguistically diverse background.

Its clearest goal was to make sure 5 per cent of its staff were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders by 2015, which would mean the department would have more than 1500 indigenous workers out of its 34,700-strong workforce in a little more than a year.

The department said it was on track to exceed the 5 per cent target

“As at July 2014, the percentage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees in the department was 4 per cent, well above the Australian Public Service average of 2.3 per cent as at June 2013,” a department spokeswoman said. “We are also a major employer of people with disability.

“As at July 2014, 4.9 per cent employees of the department identified as having a disability.

“We are a leader in workplace diversity in the Australian Public Service, and so we should be as a large department providing vital services to the community.

“Any suggestion that this is not the case is absolutely without substance.”

The Community and Public Sector Union’s log of claims for all its negotiations affecting 160,000 federal public servants said the union wanted to include a paragraph committing to diversity as well as recruitment and retention strategies.

The department spokeswoman said the public service bargaining framework, handed down by the Abbott government to set the boundaries for the bureaucracy’s managerial representatives during negotiations, clearly stated enterprise agreements should not include terms dealing with matters more properly dealt with by legislation.

“The department’s workplace diversity and inclusion strategy is in line with the legislative requirements set out in the Public Service Act 1999,” the spokeswoman said.

“This strategy is available on the department’s website and intranet.

“It is ingrained in our mandatory training schedule.

“This strategy is our formal commitment to a workplace culture that builds respects, fosters inclusiveness, promotes diversity and embraces the unique skills and qualities of all our employees.”

Source: Canberra Times