Folie 1

1
(No Transcript)
2
How to promote a healthy workforce - a
socio-economic challenge of ageing societies

• Ageing implies a growing dependence on mature
  workers
• The challenge ahead to raise the employment rate
  of mature workers
• without jeopardising productivity and economic
  growth on the one hand and
• without compromising the wellbeing of mature
  persons on the other
• The scope for raising the employability of mature
  workers depends on the health of the work force,
  but also on the educational attainment level, the
  types of work available as well as institutional
  factors
• A comparison of Austria and Australia highlights
  differences and similarities of the various
  issues and the policy implications

3
Demographic ageing and economic burden more
pronounced in Austria

• While life expectancy at birth is fairly similar
  for men and women in Austria and Australia,
  fertility rates have been consistenly lower in
  Austria for decades (2004 1.34 vs 1.75)
  contributing to a somewhat more rapid ageing
  process of the population than in Australia.
• Thus, the demographic burden today (population
  65/population 20-64 25 vs 20) is higher as
  well as the dynamics in the future.
• In addition, the labour force participation rate
  of mature workers is lower in Austria than in
  Australia (55-64 year olds 31.7 vs 53.8, - 22
  percentage points).
• Thus, the economic burden of ageing is higher in
  Austria due to a low activity rate of mature
  workers and a generous public transfer system, in
  particular old age pensions, compared to Australia

4
Health issues

• The relationship between health and economic
  growth deserves particular attention in the
  context of an ageing society.
• The challenges are to prolong the work ability
  and actual employment rate of older workers and
  in so doing to reduce the pressure on public
  pension funds and public spending on health care.
  
• The percentage of people with self-assessed good
  or very good health declines with age. This shows
  up in a rising morbidity rate with age.
• The figures for Australia are lower than the
  Austrian for every age group, declining from
  about 60 percent for the 25-34 year olds to just
  under 50 percent and 40 percent respectively for
  the 45-54 and 55-64 groups.
• In spite of that, a higher proportion of mature
  workers is working in Australia than in Austria.

5
Decline of labour force participation with age

• The drop-off of activity rates after age 50 is
  more pronounced in Austria than Australia
• for men 34 percentage points vs 18 
• for women 44 percentage points vs 21 
• Labour force participation declines with age and
  educational attainment, particularly in Austria
• The main reasons for the 50-64 age group being
  out of the workforce are
• illness/disability,
• discouragement from further job search (age
  discrimination) and insufficient further
  education and training to raise employability
• in Austria, an 'early retirement' culture, which
  is promoted by an easy accessibility to
  disability pensions as well as an
  earnings-related pension system offering a high
  income replacement rate at an early age

6
Disability benefits how to balance social
protection against ensuring the incentive to
continue to work

• The inflow into disability benefits rises with
  age, particularly in Austria.
• The employment rate of prime age disabled persons
  is higher in Austria than Australia, a result of
  the legal requirement of employers to offer a
  certain proportion of jobs to disabled persons.
  However, at 50 the ratio of employment rates of
  disabled over non-disabled persons rises sharply
  in Austria
• In Australia the ratio of the 55-59 age group
  compared to the 35-44 age group is somewhat above
  the OECD average of 3.1, while it is 16 in
  Austria (2003)
• The sharp drop of the employment rate of older
  disabled workers in Austria may be attributed to
  a comparatively easy access to disability
  pensions, i.e., own-occupation basis of
  assessment (Berufsschutz) rather than general
  incapacity to work.

7
Higher work-related accidents in Australia

• Overall, the rate of work-related accidents
  involving more than three days absence from work
  is substantially higher for Australia than
  Austria.
• The rate is slightly higher for older than
  younger persons in Austria while the reverse was
  true for Australia
• In the case of Austria, this may be because older
  workers are more accident-prone than younger ones
  and/or because a larger proportion of older
  workers are concentrated in occupations with
  higher accident risks. It may also be linked to
  the lower skill level of older workers and the
  high proportion in manual jobs
• In terms of compensation cases in Australia,
  there is a substantial increase in the incidence
  and frequency of cases affecting older workers,
  especially those over 50. This suggests that
  older workers have more serious work accidents
  than younger ones and/or it takes them longer to
  recuperate

8
Work accidents with more than 3 days absence
per 1000 employees, 2000
S. Eurostat European statistics on accidents
at work (ESAW). For Australia ABS -Work related
injuries (6324)
9
Investment in a healthy workplace raises
productivity and employability of mature workers

• Better health can make a distinct difference to
  the employability and longer participation in
  work of older workers.
• Moreover, prolonged unemployment of older workers
  also aggravates their health problems.
• As with morbidity and mortality rates, the
  proportion of persons with bad health is highest
  amongst persons with low educational attainment
  level and lowest for persons with tertiary
  education
• The relatively higher incidence of workplace
  injuries affecting older workers, the greater
  extent of morbidity among older persons of
  working age and the large proportion on
  disability pensions in both countries, indicate
  the importance of dealing with health and safety
  issues.
• They suggest the need to tailor the nature of
  work to the capacity of older workers as a
  counter to the ageing of the workforce.

10
Exit versus move out of career jobs into
secondary jobs

• In Australia, a large proportion of mature
  persons continues to work after losing their
  career jobs they tend to move into jobs with
  somewhat lower wages and working conditions,
  often combining work and welfare benefits.
• In contrast, Austrian workers tend to exit the
  labour market after losing their first career job
  (tenure more important in Austria than
  Australia), due to
• less labour market flexibility in Austria,
• partly resulting from seniority wages and
• the greater strictness of employment protection
  compared to Australia - which suggests that when
  the employment of mature workers can be
  terminated more easily (the Australian case)
  there is less resistance from employers to the
  hiring of older workers
• Lower occupational, industrial and regional
  mobility of workers in Austria

11
Australian labour market is more flexible than
the Austrian

• Australia has
• more part-time work particularly of older workers
• higher proportion of casual employees in total
  employment, many of them part-time workers. While
  15.7 percent of male employment in Australia is
  casual, and 26.3 percent in the case of females,
  the proportions are 5 percent and 12 percent
  respectively in Austria
• a larger proportion of older workers are
  self-employed (39 of mature men vs 29 24 of
  mature women vs 18 in Austria
• Austrians are working to a larger extent
  overtime, particularly older workers

12
Employment rate of 50-64 age group unadjusted for
hours worked overestimates Australian true
employment rate
13
Seniority wages raise age-earnings curve

• Seniority wages are at least partly responsible
  for the steep age-earnings curve in Austria.
  Somewhat more than 60 of wage and salary earners
  (including civil servants) have seniority wage
  schedules, strongly linked to union density.
• In contrast, age-related ladders are less common
  in Australia, particularly in the private sector.
• Seniority wages reduce the employment retention
  rate of workers whose productivity at work
  declines from a certain mature age onwards
• The incentive to work of older workers may be
  negatively affected by low wage rates, unless the
  opportunity cost of work, i.e., welfare benefits,
  are significantly lower and subject to means
  testing. This is the case in Australia, thus
  making work also in mature age pay, quite in
  contrast to Austria, where work beyond a certain
  age does not raise current and retirement income.

14
Age-earnings profiles in Austria, Australia and
other OECD countries, 2000
Men
Women
a) 2001 for Austria Source Austria Microcensus
and Wage Tax Statistics (MZ Lst Data) France
DADS Germany German socio-economic panel
Netherlands Statistics Netherlands
SwedenStatistics Sweden United Kingdom Labour
Force Survey.
15
The key role of the retirement system in
determining the employment rate of mature workers

• The age pension schemes in the two countries
  differ markedly
• The Australian system aims to alleviate poverty
  on a flat rate basis and is subject to an
  income/assets test.
• The Austrian system is a contributory scheme and
  is earnings-related.
• The income replacement rate is around 80 percent
  for men compared to about 32 percent in
  Australia.
• But both have employment disincentives in
  Australia, the high effective marginal income
  tax in Austria, the offset of pension benefits
  from any employment income during the period of
  early retirement.

16
Increasing equality promotes good health

• The extent of inequality reflected in the social
  hierarchy, distribution of incomes, the level of
  education, skill and occupation has an impact on
  health and longevity.
• The last 20 years have seen a widening of
  differences in income and wealth in Australia and
  Austria, having a negative impact on the health
  of persons at the lower end of the education and
  income scale

17
The complexity of the issues calls for a complex
set of measures

• This paper is concerned with health issues that
  arise from the work environment.
• These relate to the effects on the health from
• inadequate attention to health and safety at the
  workplace,
• a harsh and/or stressful work environment,
• wide dispersion in pay,
• protracted unemployment and employment
  insecurity, both aggravated by inadequate skills
  and by age discrimination,
• and to disincentives to remain in the workforce.
• These issues call for concerted action in a
  number of ways

18
Policy response Systematic Occupational Health
and Safety Management

• Implementation of a comprehensive system of
  Systematic Occupational Health and Safety
  Management (SOHSM) which in essence involves
• management planning and allocated
  responsibilities
• employee consultation
• specific programme elements (including the
  specification of rules and procedures, training,
  inspection, incident reporting and investigation,
  hazard identification and prevention, data
  analysis and system monitoring and evaluation)
• This is a demanding concept, calling for a high
  level of management commitment to the procedural
  requirements and acceptance of formal employee
  participation in OHS committees.
• The self-regulation has to be complemented by an
  active monitoring system.

19
Policy response Human resource management

• While labour market flexibility is inherently
  neither good nor bad, it has to be judged in
  relation to its effects on employer
  profitability, workers' security and the health
  and employment of older workers.
• As more mature workers move into a more flexible
  employment environment, particularly after
  exiting from their original career jobs, their
  working conditions have a tendency to
  deteriorate. This has a negative impact on
  health, aggravated by the reduction of investment
  in further education and training.
• In order to promote the employability of workers
  beyond a certain age, enterprises are
  increasingly turning to age-management, which
  entails
• the establishment of an age-balanced work force,
• age-appropriate job design,
• preventive occupational health measures,
• implementation of life-long learning and
• broad-banding of skills,
• Promotion of intergenerational knowledge transfer
  and
• systematic integration of older workers into
  innovation processes.

20
Policy response industrial relations

• Industrial relations based on unions and
  collective bargaining operate differently in the
  two countries.
• In Australia, industrial tribunals have played an
  increasingly smaller part in determining the
  terms of employment while union power has been
  reduced considerably and individual bargaining
  has been encouraged at the expense of collective
  bargaining, resulting in widening of pay
  differences with implication for the health of
  those at the bottom end
• In contrast, in Austria the social partnership
  concept still applies and the social partners
  rather than government have increasingly
  established themselves as the national platform
  on matters of employment of an ageing work force.
  
• Further, at the workplace level, worker
  participation either directly or via union
  representatives in the form of works councils, is
  an important element in ensuring a healthy work
  environment

21
Policy response public policy

• Government together with collective bargaining
  institutions has to see to it that the tendency
  for increased inequality of pay is being reversed
• In Australia, this requires a return to a more
  collective bargaining oriented labour market with
  less restrictions on union power to make
  collective bargaining meaningful, together with a
  restoration of the authority of industrial
  tribunals in determining the safety net in pay
  and conditions for those unable to bargain
  effectively.
• In Austria, the onus on public policy is more on
  developing a comprehensive system of continued
  learning, promoting the employability of mature
  workers and finding a balance between social
  protection and the incentive to continue to work
  up to and possibly beyond the legal retirement
  age.

22
Concluding Observation

• The comparison of Austria and Australia indicates
  that different models of socio-economic
  organisation, in particular different industrial
  relations systems, result in different priorities
  as countries strive to preserve the internal
  consistency of their national socio-economic
  institutional framework.
• The Australians follow the Anglo-Saxon 'market'
  model, which is increasingly based on
  individualisation and union exclusion, while
  Austria continues to have strong corporatist
  institutions, which are trusted to serve the
  interests of society best.
• While Australia has tended to be more concerned
  with creating an economic environment which
  promotes economic growth, Austria has been more
  concerned with preserving social cohesion.
• The test is whether the corporatist model with
  its concern for social cohesion will be able to
  deal effectively with the ageing problem, or
  whether something like the Anglo-Saxon more
  market driven model will prove to be a more
  appropriate approach to the economic and social
  problems of an ageing society.