 |
|
More Information:
|
Live Longer, Work Longer: Older Workers Synthesis Report
Presentation:
Raymond Torres, Head of the OECD Employment Analysis and Policy Division |
Discussant:
Sara Rix, Senior Policy Advisor, AARP
The event took place on Thursday, January 19, 2006
Capitol Hill Club,
Private Dining Room 3, 300 First Street, SE,
Washington, DC 20003,
(202) 484-4590
Living longer must mean working longer and in better jobs
Population aging is creating major challenges for OECD labor markets. If nothing is done, the number of workers will decline significantly relative to the number of retirees—thereby threatening prosperity in OECD countries.
The United States is no exception to this general trend. Over the next two decades, the labor force will grow almost half as fast as was the case over the past two decades, thus significantly reducing economic growth. And while today there are more than three workers per person over age 65, the figure will be less than 2.4 by 2020. Projections for other OECD countries are even more worrying, with the size of the labor force projected to fall in several European countries after 2020.
Live Longer, Work Longer shows how policies can help counteract these trends. The key goal is to support job opportunities of the over-50s: living longer must mean working longer and in better jobs. Ensuring that pension systems and other welfare benefits support work incentives for older workers; changing employment practices and working conditions in firms; and promoting skills and employability of older workers are key elements of the strategy.
Raymond Torres is Head of the OECD Employment Analysis and Policy Division. He is currently editor of the OECD Employment Outlook, and in charge of the preparations for the reassessment of the OECD Jobs Strategy. He has authored several studies on labor markets, international trade, economic growth and core workers' rights. Before joining OECD, Mr. Torres was assistant professor in microeconomics at University of Paris I, where he studied mathematical economics and econometrics. He then worked as an economist in the OECD Economics Department, where he was in charge of various analyses on investment determination and growth and, subsequently, as member of a country Desk, he contributed to several reviews of the economic situation in member countries, notably Spain. Between 1997 and 1999 he joined the International Labour Office (ILO), as head of a task force on the social dimensions of globalization.
Sara Rix is a senior policy advisor with the Economics Team of the Public Policy Institute of AARP, where she focuses on the economics of aging, labor force and demographic trends, employment and retirement policy, and older worker employment issues. Dr. Rix is a member of the Program Advisory Group of the International Longevity Center and the Review Panel of Outside Scholars and Practitioners of the University of Michigan's Retirement Research Center; has served on the board of the Society of Government Economists; and is a fellow of the National Academy of Social Insurance, the Gerontological Society of America, and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Before coming to AARP, she was director of research for the Women's Research and Education Institute (WREI), a nonpartisan, policy-oriented research organization in Washington, DC.
|
