Projects assisting older workers in European countries [antikvár]

SUMMARYBackground to the Eurowork Age projectThis report is concerned with the situation of older workers in the European labour market and how they can be retained in employment or reintegrated. It summarises the findings of a project carried out for DG V of the European Commission: Eurowork Age. The aims of Eurowork Age were to examine the labour market situation of older workers in the European Union, to identify and evaluate examples of best practice in initiatives aimed at assisting older workers or employers and to identify gaps in service provision for older workers.In its year of operation this project was managed by Third Age Challenge which is based in Swindon in the United Kingdom. Eurowork Age brought together national agents from the majority of countries in the European Union. Additionally agents from Norway partipated. Their role was to produce a short review of the labour market situation of older workers in their country and to identify examples of best practice in local projects and initiatives aimed at facilitating the reintegration of older workers. Short summaries of the aims, objectives and activities of each example were included in a directory. Each national agent also undertook promotional activities for the network in their country.Aims of the review projectThe aim of the review project was to briefly review the labour market situation of older workers in European countries, to look at the scope and coverage of local projects and initiatives, to identify what overall lessons could be learned for developing projects and initiatives to assist older workers and where support was required by existing projects. In addition, a more detailed examination of the labour market situation of older workers in some countries which had not participated in other recent studies of this issue was undertaken. These were the Nordic Countries, Portugal and Spain.Labour market situation of older workersThis study has shown that, in most countries, older workers are at a considerable disadvantage in the labour market. Particular problems are a long-term trend towards declining economic activity rates among older workers, an over-representation of older workers among those who have been unemployed longest, a focus on the retraining of younger unemployed people and widespread discrimination against older job-seekers and those older workers in employment. While in the past this has been considered to be largely a male phenomenon there is evidence in some countries (for example, Greece and Sweden) that older women may be more disadvantaged than older men.In addition, until recently policies were aimed at the exclusion of older workers and the problems faced by younger workers. Thus the 1970s and 1980s saw rapid growth in early retirement schemes which has resulted in a culture of early exit in industry. Despite evidence which indicates that early retirement can have an adverse economic impact (for example, through reducing the size of the labour force), does little to reduce levels of unemployment and undermines the performance of businesses (for example, through a loss of intellectual capital), it still finds favour among employers, trade unions and some policy-makers. There is evidence that, to a certain extent, this view persists in some countries where, for example, training still appears to be predominantly youth-oriented and governments come under pressure to assist employers with programmes of early retirement.