Programme Director: Sarah Harper

The global labour market is being transformed. For several decades now, the richer older OECD nations have relied on young migrant labour to compensate for its old age dependency ratios. However, as fertility falls across Asia and Latin America, global ageing will intensify the world skills shortage and potentially create severe competition on the global labour market. It is thus essential that the countries look to the large skills base it has within its own economy, and retains, rather than cast out, experienced older workers in their fifties and sixties. Such a policy will also address that other major OECD concerns over increased spending on pensions, as people will work and contribute to the pension pot for longer and draw down for less time. This will also allow more of the public purse to be spent on the growing number of over 80s, who will need long term care. 

The Ageing Workforce Programme at the OIA is examining some the key questions through our extensive evidence base collected using self-report surveys, interviews, observation, documentary and secondary data analyses. In particular how productive will these older workers be? How able are older men and women to retrain? Will their capacity to take on complex tasks decline with age? What role does age discrimination still play? 

Harper and Ross’ work on Capacity Change with age: a case study of the oil industry, examining the changing productivity and capacity of some 400 oil workers as they age, indicates that changes with age exist, but can be modified by working practices. Leeson’s work on life long learning, as the UK representative of the EU PEFETE Network, is collaborating with European colleagues to understand how older men and women learn, and retrain in later life. The OIA is working to develop collaborative projects with the ESRC Centre SKOPE (Skills and Work) under the direction of Professor Ken Mayhew. Harper is working with the Department of Children, School and Families’ examination of changing UK education 2020-2050 identifying the role that demographic ageing and the need for life long learning to upgrade skills as we age will play. 

Secondly, what will these longer working lives look like? Drawing on the Future of Retirement Surveys and other material, Harper argues that one employer, early promotion, and early retirement is likely to be replaced by flexible working, frequent employment moves, or even portfolio careers comprising regular retraining and changes in occupation. These working lives will be punctuated by employment breaks to allow periods of child rearing, travel, education, elder care, self-employment and leisure. Retirement is likely to move from an abrupt halt at a fixed age to a more gradual withdrawal, with the eventual abolition of compulsory retirement ages. Workplaces will benefit from age-integrated workforces which include both young and old workers with a variety of skills and experiences.  

Thirdly, how are men and women able to balance the extensive family care and responsibilities with growing working life demands. 

Projects

• Ageing workers: Evidence based validated capacity evaluation guidelines for physical and mental health to assist risk assessment - Sarah Harper and Derek Ross
• Capacity Change with age: a case study of the oil industry - Sarah Harper and Derek Ross
• Employers attitudes and expectations towards older workers - Sarah Harper and GeorgeLeeson
• Implications of Population Ageing for the Railway Industry - Sarah Harper
• Extending Working Life - Sarah Harper
• Age Discrimination - George W. Leeson
• Working Carers - Andreas Hoff