JOB subsidies and tax breaks for firms recruiting older workers are proposed in a new EU study. It finds that the ageing workforce is "one of the most pressing issues confronting European societies."
The study, entitled "Combating Age Barriers in Employment", criticises governments, employers and unions for ignoring the increasing problems of older people in the labour market.
While generally supportive of the needs of older workers the study will raise a few grey hackles with some of its recommendations.
It proposes, for instance, that pay increases related to seniority may need to go and that older workers might need to accept redeployment rather than promotion, if they are to be an attractive proposition for employers.
The average age of the EU workforce is rising rapidly, according to the study. Over the next 10 years the number of people aged 15 to 19 will fall by one million, or 5 per cent. In the 20 to 29 year age group the fall will be nine million, 17 per cent.
However, the number of people aged 50 to 59 is due to rise by 5.5 million, or 12 per cent, and those aged 60 to 64 by one million.
In this situation it is wrong to promote early retirement schemes and the "continuous lowering of labour force exit thresholds," says the study. It also condemns "the operation of age discrimination in the labour market, (where) people over 40 are regarded as nearing the end of their working lives."
Governments in Austria, Finland, France and Germany have begun reversing state support for early retirement schemes. Some employers and unions are doing likewise, the report says.
A "business case" for retaining older workers has been developing on the basis of maximising the return on investment in human capital, preventing skill shortages from developing and making for a more diverse workforce.
The study, which was commissioned by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, recommends that "age management" requires changed attitudes towards older workers.
Their recruitment, training and ergonomic needs in the workplace are part of this change process. Support for such changes by senior management is essential.
Age awareness training should be introduced for human resource personnel. Older workers should themselves be involved in discussions on how age barriers can be overcome, it says.
One problem in the EU is that 90 per cent of workers are employed in small and medium sized enterprises which do not have the resources to put elaborate pro grammes in place. But the study says that these should still be able to review recruitment practices, remove age barriers from job advertisements, and make training programmes more sensitive to the needs of older workers.
Turning 19 unions, the study says that their members also need age awareness training" and that they should be prepared to renegotiate traditional career development structures.
The Government proposed outlawing age discrimination in the Employment Equality Bill. But last month the Supreme Court found this unconstitutional.