The increasing aging of the population is leading to stress on the labor market. As the number of retirees increases and baby boomers – a very large cohort who will receive higher benefits than today – approach retirement, redesigning work structures has become a global challenge for all countries. One consequence of this paradigm shift is that the oldest workers, those between 55 and 64 years old, are being sidelined in favor of younger workers who are perceived to have greater ability to adapt to technological advances through new tools. like artificial intelligence. However, this stigma is due to a wrong approach, since according to a study by Oxford Economics in collaboration with the University of Salamanca and the International Center, it is older workers who are best prepared for the processes of change aging (CENIE).
The study entitled “The impact of age on the labor market and the resilience of companies in Spain” presents the employment situation of older workers in Spain and in the European environment and defends the presence of older workers in companies. “There are many false discourses that lead to aging being perceived as a threat to our economic and social well-being. The fact that we live longer and in better conditions cannot lead to problems,” said Óscar González, director of the General Foundation of the University of Salamanca.
The main reason for the continued aging of the workforce is the time at which they retire. That is, how the payment of benefits for an ever larger group will affect the state's accounts. The aging of the Spanish population “will lead to a decline in the working-age population – people between 15 and 64 years old – and a significant increase in the dependency rate of older people, defined as the number of people over 64 years old.” . 65 years old compared to the population between 20 and 64 years old,” the study says. “These changes could trigger slower economic growth and pose significant problems for authorities,” the text warns.
To avoid these future tensions, the report proposes a series of recommendations, such as raising the retirement age based on data on what age workers in Spain decide to retire, rather than the legal age. As outlined in the document, the average effective retirement age in Spain in 2020 for men was around 61 years; and for women aged 60, the figures are lower than in most OECD countries. However, this data does not match that of Social Security, which sets the actual retirement age for this year at 65.1.
“The relevant authorities in Spain should consider raising the official retirement age, as has happened in other countries with an aging workforce, such as Japan or Germany,” says the report, which also recommends that the priority should be “to discourage older workers from taking early retirement.” To this end, it proposes to “make access to all early retirement schemes more stringent”. “In Spain, measures have been taken in this regard, such as increasing the minimum years of contributions required to be entitled to a full pension,” the document says, although it considers that “there is still scope for further action .” ” These include “an increase in the costs of early retirement for employers or the direct abolition of early retirement.”
Resilience
According to the consulting firm's study, companies with older workforces coped better with the 2008 financial crisis. “Older workers tend to have more experience and expertise in their field, which becomes valuable in times of crisis,” the text says. “They may have a better understanding of how the company works and can provide valuable insights and solutions to resolve issues that arise,” he adds. In addition, the document highlights that its presence contributes to improving knowledge transfer. “Older workers can also mentor younger workers and guide and support them in dealing with the challenges of a crisis.”
The defense of the presence of experienced workers in the workforce comes from the perspective that this niche of workers will gain even more weight in the labor pyramid over the next 25 years. “The proportion of inactive workers over 50 years old per 100 workers will be 80% in 2050, 20 percentage points higher than today,” estimated Shruti Singh, senior economist and head of aging and employment policy at the OECD, who took part in the study presentation of the report. “In Spain there are currently more workers between the ages of 55 and 64 active than ever before,” emphasized the scientist. However, this volume is well below the average reported in several Nordic countries, for example.
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