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Peer Review: ‘PES and Older Workers’ . Presentation at the Headquarters of the German Federal Employment Agency, Nuremberg , May 10, 2012. Employment Rates, EU 27, 2001-2010. Employment Rates 55-64 . Quelle: Eurostat. Female Employment Rates 2001 / 2008 / 2010 .
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Peer Review: ‘PES and Older Workers’ PresentationattheHeadquartersofthe German Federal Employment Agency, Nuremberg, May 10, 2012
Employment Rates 55-64 Quelle: Eurostat
Institutional factors relevant to older workers' probabilities of taking up employment • (stronger) legal employment protection setting in at a specific age • seniority wage differentials (if tied to age) • age-specific exemption from job search / from definition of being unemployed • age-specific extension of UB eligibility • early retirement / disability schemes • low statutory retirement age notion of 'old' starts early • signalling effect of statutory pension age thresholds • UK has recently abolished the Default Retirement Age
Typical challenges • age stereotypes on both sides, employers and jobseekers • scepticism even among PES staff • lack of occupational and geographical mobility • lack of qualifications, outdated qualifications, or qualifications not recognized (migrants) • 'life-long learning' not really embraced, neither by workers nor by employers
Services for Employers • employer-oriented services not specialised by age groups • primary concern for jobseekers, not employed workers • special services and provisions in cases of restructuring in many countries • age-specific rules for restructuring only in Belgium • wage cost subsidies largely used and promoted, also for older workers • compensation offered for training costs or days of sickness (in some countries) • counselling services for employers in their role as users of labour are rare and not age-specific • Austria: 'flexibility counselling' • Germany: pilot models for counselling SME's
Preventive Measures and Services / Awareness Raising • few preventive measures for older employees • 'fast track' services and priority activation for older jobseekers in some countries • campaigns and action plans aim at raising public and employers' awareness • networking with the business community • liaising with civil society organisations representing senior citizens
Services and Measures for Unemployed Older Workers • few age-specificities in services concern only timing, priority or intensity: • initial interview or Individual Action Plan earlier for older jobseekers • tendency towards abolishing age specific measures or programmes (Germany, UK) • exemption Netherlands: 55-plus networking ( 'senior job club') • division of frontline services by age and 'target group approaches' rejected by most participating countries • Poland just now training frontline workers and coaches – how will they be deployed? • wage supplements compensating for taking up a lower-paid job (France,Belgium; recently abandoned in Germany) • direct job creation ('public works')
Monitoring and Evaluation • no age-specific monitoring or evaluation programmes • in general, proper monitoring systems and independent evaluation of net outcomes of ALMP’s still in need of development in many countries • measures highlighted as successful (based on practical experience or evaluation): • combinations of work practice and training • hiring subsidies • networking groups / group counselling / job search coaching
Practical conclusions • PES staff information, training and experience sharing: giving employment assistance for older workers credibility • supporting older jobseekers' self-confidence • identifying the type of enterprise more likely to hire older jobseekers • perhaps not the 'age-friendly' ones already employing a high proportion of older workers • training investment also for 'older' workers – firm-specificity perhaps less of a problem where older workers concerned • counselling employers with regard to more sustainable HR practices: a suitable role for the PES?
Outlook • What works for older jobseekers will probably also work for younger ones. • Some problems may cumulate with age: impairments of health, outdated qualifications • Main problem not (calendrical, biological) age as such but subjective life-course positioning (self-perception and perception by others). • Age stereotypes will probably remain – but calendrical age associated with notion of being 'old' will shift upwards with the institutional framework for retirement.