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IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Dublin Foundation)

Foundation seminar series 2011-2012 - Improving working conditions: Contribution to active ageing

1st session: 7 - 9  November 2011, Dublin, Ireland

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/events/2011/fssdublin/index.htm

Foundation Seminar Series 2011 - 2012

Session One:

Improving Working conditions: contribution to active ageing

CONCEPT PAPER

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/docs/events/2011/fssdublin/conceptpaper.pdf

[full-text, 6 pages]

[excerpt]

Background

Demographic change is one of the key challenges faced by many Western societies, the effects of which will remain a major concern in the years ahead. The phenomenon of demographic ageing is a consequence of people living longer than ever before but fewer children being born, which translates into growing demographic dependency ratios i.e. the ratio of the dependent population (those aged below 15 and above 64) to the people of working age (15 - 64). Demographic ageing is particularly acute in Europe where the population of those at working age is even declining in some countries.

Ageing threatens the macroeconomic performance and competitiveness of European countries and poses a major challenge to the sustainability of social protection systems. Moreover, European employment rates are lower than in the US or Japan, which further compromises European welfare states, especially against the background of poor economic performance and austerity in public budgets. If demographic trends are sustained and European employment rates do not increase across all groups, the proportion of people economically inactive to the people in employment will increase with each generation (the so-called economic dependency ratios). This means that the productive population will face increasing financial pressures to sustain the social schemes (pensions, healthcare, and education) mainly needed by a growing inactive population, among which older workers are the biggest recipients of government expenditure.

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Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 262-6041               
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
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