Posts Tagged “olderworkers.com.au”

How an ageing population will stunt our growth

CALLAM PICKERING
1 HOUR AGO

The Australian economy continues to be underpinned by strong population growth, but the data also highlights the increasing divergence between the Australian states.

Population growth remains weak in both South Australia and Tasmania, with both states struggling to attract immigration and capital investment.

The Australian population rose by 1.7 per cent over the year to the March quarter – reflecting strong growth on the east coast – and will continue to underpin real GDP growth for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, population growth has begun to slow over the past few quarters.

New South Wales and Victoria continue to lead the way, with their populations rising by 1.6 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively, over the past year. The population in NSW sits at 7.5 million, and in Victoria at 5.8 million.

But the strongest growth remains in Western Australia. The mining boom might be over, and former mining towns have now become ghost towns, but their populations continues to rise at a rapid pace.

The population in WA rose by 2.5 per cent over the year to the March quarter. This is well down on its peak during the mining boom – 3.7 per cent growth over the year to September 2012 – but it remains rapid in every sense of the word.
Graph for How an ageing population will stunt our growth

Population growth reflects a number of factors. Economic opportunity can explain a great deal of WA’s growth; the mining boom made the state a particularly attractive destination for not only immigrants but those living interstate.

For NSW and Victoria it is a combination of the nation’s pursuit of high immigration combined with the appeal of big city living. Queensland, to a lesser extent, benefits from this but also from the mining boom and intangibles such as their tropical climate.

At the other end of the spectrum we have states where opportunities have been poor. Population growth in South Australia and Tasmania have been remarkably soft given Australia’s high immigration intake.

I’ve been critical of our federal government’s preference for a ‘Big Australia’ because it has been pursued with little regard for our existing infrastructure and natural resources (The Big Australia illusion; April 22). But low population growth poses its own set of problems.

Why would businesses invest in SA or Tasmania when their market would grow more quickly elsewhere? They might be beautiful states but there’s little room for sentimentality in business.

Attracting capital investment has been difficult in these states – so difficult that it encouraged the Tasmanian government to sponsor an AFL team to increase tourism and offer the most generous first-home builder grants in the country. Tasmania has to be creative to keep its economy chugging along.

The other trend worth keeping an eye on is Australia’s ageing population. This has been well documented on a national level, but each state will be affected differently.

Over the past few decades Australia and each of the states has experienced favourable demographics that have helped boost real GDP growth. From 1980, the share of the population aged between 25 and 54 years of age increased sharply in each state and territory. Workers are traditionally most productive within this age group.
Graph for How an ageing population will stunt our growth

That created the sweet spot for economic growth and, combined with rising labour force participation among women, created the perfect environment for strong growth. But those favourable demographics are at an end, with the share of the population between 25 and 54 years old now on the decline.

The effect has been felt most in Tasmania and SA, where the populations are oldest. But each of our six states is generally quite old, and growth will continue to be hamstrung by an ageing population.

The Australian economy continues to be underpinned by strong population growth but it has been concentrated on the east coast and in WA. Despite a strong immigration intake, our demographics continue to turn unfavourably and that will weigh on growth over the foreseeable future.

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

Bias against older workers endemic and ‘quite frightening’, according to Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan

Age discrimination commissioner Susan Ryan

The reluctance of Australian employers to hire older workers is costing the country about $10 billion each year, according to Australia’s age discrimination commissioner.

Susan Ryan says bias against workers over 50 is endemic and she fears it is much worse than previously thought.

She is using an address to the National Press this lunchtime to announce a new study into the prevalence of age discrimination in Australian workplaces.

“I expect we’ll find a picture that will be quite frightening,” Ms Ryan told ABC Radio’s The World Today.

“I think we will find that there is far more negative behaviour towards older workers than people understand – until it happens to them.”

The interim report, by Roy Morgan research, is expected to be finalised by the end of the year, and Ms Ryan expects the full report to be public by March next year.

But before it has even begun she suggests people should get a career check-up to map out at least the next decade of their working life as they approach 50.

“I think we need a national approach which will involve people in a systematic check-up on their career prospects while they’re still in employment, regardless of what sort of job they work in,” she said.

“[They] should be saying, ‘well, can I do this job for the next 20 years? Will I be able to? Do I want to? Have I got the physical strength to? And if I need to change what is available to me? How do I find another job?'”

Ms Ryan would like to see TAFE colleges play a central role, with support from the federal and state governments.

She said TAFEs are well placed to help as they “have good relationships with local employers” and understand which industries are growing and which are shrinking.

Time for businesses to recognise older Australians’ value

Businesses also need to undergo a “sea change” to see the value in employing older Australians, according to Ms Ryan.

“We get a lot of formal complaints at the [Human Rights] Commission, and they take the form of people being nagged into taking redundancies, or people being told they’re no longer suitable for their task, and being laid off,” she said.

“Employers have to say to themselves, I want the best person for the job, not a person that I’m judging by the number of birthdays he or she has had” Susan Ryan

“People being told they can’t undertake training that would be necessary for promotion or even to maintain their position because their employer thinks they’re too old or they won’t get their money’s worth investing in their training.”

In the federal budget the Government announced businesses would be eligible for up to $10,000 if they employed a job seeker over the age of 50 and kept them in employment.

While other wage subsidy programs have not had a big take-up rate, Ms Ryan said she hoped this one would be successful.

But she warned there was more to be done.

“Employers have to say to themselves, I want the best person for the job, not a person that I’m judging by the number of birthdays he or she has had,” she said.

The Commissioner has also questioned the need for an influx of foreign workers on 457 or similar working visas, when so many older Australians are still willing to work.

“I agree if we do have serious skills shortages, and we do have overseas workers who can come in, that’s a sensible thing to do,” she said.

“But it’s very hard to believe, when you look at the numbers of unemployed people in their 50s and 60s, the numbers of people who are willing to train, who are willing to move for a job.”

“You have to ask yourself, are employers looking at our local talent pool of mature workers before they decide they need to import labour? I don’t think the answer is yes in every case.”

She says research previously commissioned for the Australian Human Rights Commission found a 3 per cent increase in workforce participation amongst workers aged 55 and over could contribute $33 billion to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).

“It’s big, big money,” she said.

“When you look at numbers like that it’s hard to understand why more effort isn’t being made to ensure those people can work longer.”

Source: ABC.NET.AU

Older workers need ‘career check-ups’, says Age Discrimination Commissioner

Date September 17, 2014

Judith Ireland

Check-up: Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan has said older employees should have routine career check-ups much like they have health check-ups. Photo: Andrew Quilty (AFR)

Australians approaching their 50s should have routine “career check-ups” to prevent unemployment as they get older, just as they would have a regular health check-up with their doctor, Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan says.

In a bid to address Australia’s ageing population and unemployment among 50 and 60-somethings, Ms Ryan said there should be a nationally co-ordinated approach to help everyone at midlife “check where they are and change direction if they need to”.

Ms Ryan will tell the National Press Club on Wednesday that TAFE colleges should be at the centre of the plan where workers would be given a skills analysis and advice about what sort of job they could expect to do for the following 20 years, particularly if they are in a declining industry, physically unable to continue their existing job or burnt out.

“This is not a crisis management plan,” she will say. “It is a preventative approach that would have older people recharging and moving smoothly to the next stage of employment.”

In her address, Ms Ryan will also announce that she has asked Roy Morgan to conduct the first ever national prevalence study of age discrimination in the workplace. The survey will begin in coming weeks, with initial results in December and a full report in March.

“I do not wish to pre-empt its results; my guess however, is it will signal an urgent and massive challenge,” Ms Ryan will say.

She will tell the Press Club there are millions of people over 55 who want a job but cannot get one: “older people are more likely to be unemployed long term than any other group”.

She will also note that more than 50 per cent of age discrimination complaints made to the Australian Human Rights Commission relate to employment.

The Age Discrimination Commissioner will discuss the negative assumptions that younger people – particularly those under 35 – have about older workers. She will argue that the workforce needs to move away from a model that “seeks and favours only the youthful, presumed ‘hungry’ and ‘high energy’ dynamos”.

“The new model should include all skilled and high energy candidates, regardless of how many birthdays they have chalked up.”

Ms Ryan, who was education minister under the Hawke government, will also argue for greater flexibility in the job market. “All employers need to ditch assumptions that job flexibility is an aberration to be reluctantly granted only to women returning from maternity leave.”

Ms Ryan said those in their 50s and 60s could be working at close to the levels of those in their 30s and 40s.

“It makes serious economic sense, as well as common sense, to harness this human capital.”

Modelling by Deloitte Access Economics for the Human Rights Commission shows that a 3 per cent increase in workforce participation for workers over 55 – beyond an already expected 2.7 per cent by 2024-25 – would contribute an extra $33 billion to Australia’s GDP.

This comes as the government seeks to increase the pension age to 70 by 2035 to make welfare spending “sustainable”. The previous Labor government already increased it from 65 to 67 by 2023.

Source: SMH

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

How employers can benefit from employing older workers

Sep 04, 2014 06:06
By Bill Gleeson

Data reveals the Liverpool city region lags behind much of the UK when it comes to taking on 50 to 64-year-olds

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Older works can be an asset in the workplace if only more employers were prepared to give them the opportunity

Merseyside’s local authority areas have some of the worst rates of employment of older workers in Britain.

According to a recently published table, the proportion of 50 to 64-year-olds in employment in Liverpool is 55.7%, ranking it a lowly 362nd out of the 378 local authority areas in the study.

All of Merseyside’s other local authority areas also appear in the bottom third of the table published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Older workers in St Helens and Knowsley don’t fare much better than Liverpool, with only 57.7% and 58.6% respectively in work. Wirral’s rate is 63.3% with Halton’s just behind at 63.1%, while even Sefton, Merseyside’s best performing local authority, has a rate of just 66%, placing it 241st, just above the bottom third of the table.

The region’s performance contrasts sharply with some other areas of the country where the employment rate for older people is much higher. The top of the table is dominated by local authorities in the South East of England with first place going to Watford with an older people employment rate of 89.5%. The UK average was 68.5%.

The DWP published the table as part of a Government drive to encourage poor performing regions to fill the country’s growing number of job vacancies by employing older age groups.

The Government figures suggest that there is plenty of scope for firms to tap into this segment of the market. There are around 2.9m people aged between 50 and state pension age out of work. Around 40.8% of over-50s on Jobseeker’s Allowance have been claiming for 12 months or more, substantially higher than the overall rate of 30.2%. Over half have already stopped working before they reach state pension age.

It’s not just employers who would benefit. With life expectancy rising, helping the over-50s to stay in and get back into work also has a key role to play in enhancing people’s standard of living in retirement.

By working one year longer, an average earner could boost their pension pot by around £4,500, in addition to earning an extra year’s salary. Conversely, a worker retiring 10 years early could see their pension pot shrink by a third.

Research conducted by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research also shows the wider economic benefit of everyone working one year longer, saying the UK’s GDP would increase by 1% (equivalent to £16bn).

Campaigners say demographic changes present major opportunities for employers to harness the benefits of recruiting older staff, but also pose a serious threat to businesses which continue to believe they can rely solely on a young workforce.

In the next 10 years, there will be 700,000 fewer people aged 16 to 49 in the UK labour market but 3.7m more aged between 50 and state pension age.

According to Chris Ball, chief executive of The Age and Employment Network (TAEN), factors that could contribute to the city region’s poor performance include old fashioned attitudes that cause some employers to think older people have poor IT skills and are less adaptable. Other factors include wear and tear on industrial workers and poor health. Mr Ball, 69, will be attending an older worker’s fringe event at next week’s Trade Union Congress in Liverpool.

He told ECHO Business it was time to scotch the stereotypes, saying: “I didn’t learn to type till I was 50, now I type at 40 odd words a minute and use all sorts of software programmes. Old dogs can learn new tricks.

“There are employers who do discriminate. They operate on the basis of stereotypes. Stereotypes are the lazy man’s way of sorting people. They are invalid.”

Another invalid argument that TAEN seeks to challenge is the idea that it’s just the young who deserve a chance to find a job.

Mr Ball said: “People are beginning to see through that argument. It is economically illiterate: it’s the lump of labour fallacy.

“The idea that there is a fixed quantum of jobs in the economy is wrong – it just doesn’t work that way. If more older people are in work they create more jobs for others.

“We also need to think creatively about inter-generational knowledge to prevent organisational ageing when, for one reason or another, firms are not introducing new approaches or passing on knowledge acquired over the years which often disappears when key individuals leave the organisation.”

Another contributory factor is that older people are less prepared to put up with tedium. He said: “A lot of jobs are dull, boring, routine and repetitive. People feel entitled to retire from these jobs and can’t wait for it when they get to a certain age.”

Dr Ros Altmann, the Government’s recently appointed business champion for older workers, said: “Older workers have a huge amount to offer any workforce. They generally have unrivalled life and work experience, often boast a broad range of skills and, according to many employers I’ve spoken to, tend to display great attitude and work ethic.

“We need to get rid of the traditional stereotype which suggests that people over 50 are too old to learn or change and are expected not to work, even if they want to. There can be a world of opportunities for older workers which can enrich their lives and also boost our economy.”