Filling The Gaps

The environment we are living in it’s no longer only complicated, but complex as well. And if you ask me which are the factors that affect every side of it I would say “globalization, technological progress, environment policies and the aging society”. *In a random order.* There are of course some more issues to be taken in consideration when discussing factors` influence on the environment, but these would be my first associations. These are the ones I am finding in whatever analysis comes to my hands, doesn`t matter what is the topic and in which field it is. They all have different implications and interact with each other so summarizing them it`s rather impossible. That`s the reason why I want to share with you only one aspect of one of them -the impact of the aging society on the labour market.

First of all- what is an aging society and what are the reasons for the aging process?

According to the definition given by United Nations, when the percentage of population of people over 65 years old is more than seven percent, that society will be called “aging society”

Here are the main reasons for the aging process:
• sustained old fertility- and thus a decline in the proportion of children in the population

• a rising proportion of older people in the population, which could be due to the growing longevity

• feminization of the labour force (postponement of childbearing)- *I guess that`s somehow connected with point 1*

Now have a look at this article- Implications of population ageing for the labour market, by Sylvia Dixon, Labour Market Division, Office for National Statistics

Here are the most important points (in my opinion) concerning the implication of the process (taken from the same article where you could find more explanations):

1. Upward pressure on employers` wage costs
2. Downward pressure on levels of economic activity
3. Reduced voluntary mobility between jobs, and lower turnover within enterprises
4. An increase in involuntary job loss, especially among older workers
5. Reduced geographical mobility
6. An aging of the stock of knowledge and skills of the labor force
7. A rise in the incidence of ill health and disability within the labor force

One more document about the aging with focus on UK (plus an interesting comparison with Japan) you could find here- The changing age structure of the UK population, by Chris Smith, Cecilia Tomassini, Steve Smallwood and Mike Hawkins.

Actually during my first term this academic year I had to make quite an interesting presentation with one of my colleagues- Steffen and the above mentioned is a percent of the data we used then. The course itself was even better Cross Cultural Management in Human Resources, taught by Dr. Anna Murdoch.

The topic of the presentation was: Trends on the labour market- people, work and the progress of technology in a globilised world.

I would point out our conclusions and I hope that soon I will have some more free time to make you familiar with good books, researches, article and other resources related to the topic

Summary:

1. Technological progress causes a polarisation of jobs. There is an increasing demand both in low-paid “lousy jobs” as well as high-paid “lovely jobs”. Middling jobs decline.
2. The wage gap has increased dramatically during the last 25 years.
3. Because of aging, the labour force gets smaller and there will be an excess demand for workers.
4. Countries with highly regulated labour markets tend to have a higher unemployment rate than those without many regulations
5. Immigration is needed, there is only little impact on wages of local people.
6. Employers nowadays demand strong cognitive and interpersonal skills, employees want to sustain and improve their employability. They want to be trained.
7. Companies improve their flexibility with alternative work arrangements.
8. The labour force participation of women has never been higher than today. But women are still discriminated. They earn less money for the same work and are mainly occupied in low-skill jobs.

I hope it was interesting