Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on '1999 - International Year for Older People'
Date: 1999-09-16
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions, Provisional data
Subjects: employment policy, labour law, population ageing, public awareness campaign, social integration, social policy

C 374/36

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Official Journal of the European Communities

23.12.1999

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on ‘1999 — International Year for Older People’

(1999/C 374/09)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the decision taken by the Bureau on 18 November 1998, under the fourth paragraph of
Article 198c of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to draw up an Opinion on ‘1999
— International Year for Older People’, and to direct Commission 5 ‘Social policy, Public Health,
Consumer Protection, Research and Tourism’ to draw up the relevant opinion;

having regard to the Draft Opinion (CdR 442/98 rev. 2) adopted by Commission 5 on 22 March 1999
[Rapporteurs: Mrs Haijanen (FI/PPE) and Mr Keymer (UK/PPE)],

unanimously adopted the following opinion at its 30th plenary session on 15 and 16 September 1999
(meeting of 16 September).

1.

Introduction

1.1.
The United Nations has designated 1999 as the
International Year for Older People. The purpose of this Year
is to raise awareness of the demographic situation, to stimulate
debate, to promote new action strategies, to increase the
coordination between different services and to encourage
research and exchange of best practice. These aims will be
pursued locally, regionally, nationally, continent-wide and
globally. In this connection, numerous events will be organized
across the EU at European, national, regional and local level.

The population of EU countries is growing older due
1.2.
to falling birth rates and a simultaneous increase in life
expectancy as a result of medical progress. By the year
2025 over one third of the European population will be of
pensionable age. The portion of the population growing
most rapidly in relative terms is the over 80 age-group, a
phenomenon common to many Member States in recent
decades.

1.3.
Demographic changes pose a major challenge for the
European Union and for Member States’ regional and local
governments. The main challenges for policy on the elderly
include increasing the number of years during which people
are healthy and active, ensuring adequate arrangements for
care and assistance, providing suitable living conditions,
safeguarding the incomes of older people, as well as improving
the opportunities for life-long learning. Attitudes towards
ageing and older people need to change. Better information
can be instrumental in countering the negative attitudes in the
workplace. It is extremely important for working life to adapt
to demographic change and for attention to be paid to
improving the employability of older workers. This would also
lead to a better quality of life for older people.

The European Union and local and regional authorities must
guard against regarding older people as an homogeneous
group in need of social and medical care. It is important not

to lose sight of the value of independence; older people who
can still cope on their own should therefore be given every
opportunity to make their own arrangements for pursuing an
active and healthy life.

2. The main challenges for policy on the elderly

2.1.

Increasing the number of years during which people are healthy
and active

2.1.1.
One objective of policy for the elderly is to increase
the number of years during which people are active and
functionally able as a proportion of the average life-span.
Along with ill-health, the physical, psychological and social
ability of senior citizens must also be considered. In general,
people are satisfied with their lives as long as they consider
themselves to be in at least reasonable condition relative to
their age. Furthermore, increasing the number of years during
which people are active can have a considerable effect on the
overall cost of policy for the elderly. The way in which peoples’
functional ability evolves will have an impact on the demand
for health care and for other public services provided by
regional and local authorities.

Physical exercise is important for staying healthy and
2.1.2.
active. It enables older people to take an active part in society.
Its importance should be stressed. When older people fall ill,
they must be offered prompt and effective examination and
treatment, as well as sufficiently comprehensive rehabilitation.
Similarly, programmes such as preventive medicine and prep-
aration for retirement should be promoted at an earlier stage.

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2.2. Adequate care and assistance

2.2.1. Many of the goods and services needed by older
people are designed for use by the entire population, for
example, retail, transport, health, cultural and training services.
As the population ages, the need for social and health services
also rises. In particular, the growth in the number of older
people suffering from memory disorders and dementia
increases the need for help, care and assistance. Services should
be organized so that they respond to the individual needs of
older people. The aim is to rehabilitate people and to treat
them as out-patients rather than admitting them to residential
care. In arranging care and assistance, older people should be
viewed as part of a social network, which encompasses family,
other close relatives, friends, neighbours and other members
of the immediate community.

Some local authorities have recruited and trained staff for the
specific task of providing day-to-day help to older people. The
expansion of such services has resulted, among other things,
in the creation of local jobs.

Services should be organised so that they respond to the
individual needs of older people. To this end, the social and
health services they use should be coordinated.

2.2.5.
In future the Structural Funds, and particularly the
European Social Fund, should be able to provide support for
schemes initiated by territorial authorities, especially as regards
assistance for older people. The training of staff providing such
help to dependent persons should therefore be eligible for ESF
funding.

2.3. Housing, living environments and public transport compatible

with the needs of older people

Housing policy, community planning and transport
2.3.1.
must also be considered from the perspective of older people.
Indeed, decisions taken in these areas will have an impact on
the substance of policy for the elderly and its cost for decades
ahead. Housing needs vary during different stages of peoples’
lives. One of the objectives of policy for the elderly is to ensure
suitable housing for older people and for their needs. It is also
important to take on board their views on land-use and
house-building, and it is most cost-effective to anticipate this
already at the building stage. Locating shops and other services
where everyone has access to them enhances older peoples’
sense of self-sufficiency. This poses a challenge for regional
and local authorities, particularly concerning land use and
town planning. Accessible public transport is essential to
ensure that older people are able to remain active and to
participate in their community.

Steps must be taken to ensure that there are a
2.2.2.
sufficient number of professional carers to look after the
elderly. The traditional role of the family in looking after the
elderly is a key element in the social fabric of communities in
Europe that needs to be encouraged by constructive measures.

Increasingly, when people stop working, they move perma-
nently to another country or region of the European Union
with a more attractive geographical location of climate. The
regional and local host authorities must take heed of this
specific situation.

2.2.3. Working life and working practices should be
developed by taking advantage of new research and training
and promoting special support programmes for families and
other unofficial carers. The free movement of workers between
EU countries presents a separate set of challenges for pro-
fessional training.

Disability aids are one of the practical applications of
2.3.2.
the rapidly growing technological knowledge at our disposal.
Disability aids can offset any reduction in the functional ability
of older people and help people to continue living at home.
Furthermore, they facilitate the work of those who care for the
elderly. Disability aids must, however, be user-friendly.

In addition, liaison between voluntary groups operating in the
field at local and regional level must be encouraged in view of
their major potential for assisting older people in various ways.
These groups also have vital know-how of the local situation
and hence are equipped to pinpoint areas where there is a high
concentration of older people.

Some territorial authorities have introduced schemes to help
older people to remain in their homes. These schemes include
24-hour telephone cover to enable older people to continue
to live at home and receive assistance or outside help should
they need it.

2.2.4. When organising services for older people,
it is
important to take geographical considerations, poor com-
munications, the absence of appropriate services, etc., into
account.

In addition, provision should be made for various forms of
financial aid to help persons wishing to equip their home with
such aids, in the same way as already exists for the removal of
structural constraints.

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2.4. Safeguarding the incomes of older people

3. The labour market position of older people

2.4.1.
Adequate income is necessary for older people to be
independent and self-sufficient. The general evolution of the
national economy determines an economically sustainable
level of pension coverage. Pension schemes must be designed
so that they are compatible with an ageing population and
with a rising average life expectancy. They must also enable
work and retirement to be combined flexibly. For older people
who are able to lead a fully active life it must to some extent
be possible to opt, even after their retirement, for meaningful
work from which they can also draw an income. As the
population ages, an ever greater proportion of potential
consumption will be by older people. Pension payments
subsequently help to maintain consumption demand, which is
essential for the well-being of the national economy.

2.5.

Improving the opportunities for learning and participation

2.5.1.
Older people should be given the opportunity to
influence and participate in decision-making procedures which
affect them. In addition to representative democratic channels,
direct opportunities should be created for older people to
participate and have an influence. It is particularly important
to get service users involved in the activities of regional and
local bodies. In addition, many retired people would like to
work on a voluntary basis. As a great deal of active debate has
taken place recently about the opportunities offered by the
so-called ‘third sector’
in combating unemployment and
preventing exclusion in particular, it is important to emphasize
that the work of many voluntary organisations is critically
dependent upon the active contribution made by older people.

2.5.2.
The rapid pace of change taking place in society
increases the importance of life-long learning. In particular, the
internationalisation of working life and continually evolving
production and information technology make it necessary for
workers to adapt quickly to the changing work environment.
Similarly, working life must adapt to an ageing workforce. The
employment of older workers poses a significant challenge
and Member States should develop practices which prevent
discrimination against older people in the labour market.
These challenges are examined in greater detail in section 3.

2.5.3.
The importance of older people remaining active
requires local and regional authorities to make efforts to
provide them with opportunities matching their expectations,
such as courses, seminars or special universities for older
people, in which they can analyse and pool their needs, with
support from coordinating experts.

3.1. The employment of older people

3.1.1.
Employment rates for older people are either very
low (for women) or currently declining (for men), and in both
cases are much lower than either the United States or Japan.
The structure of working life and underlying attitudes often
favour younger, well-educated workers. People
leaving
employment
in middle-age find considerable difficulty in
returning to full-time employment. A recently published report
in Britain has suggested that one third of unemployed men
aged 45-50 will never work again. People often retire before
their real retirement age.

Demographic

3.1.2.
challenged previous
change has
assumptions about the employment of older people. As people
live longer, the trend towards shorter working lives — often
the result of policy initiatives deliberately designed to favour
early retirement — means that there is an ever-increasing
burden on public social security systems. Furthermore, com-
bined with falling birth-rates, a continuing early retirement
culture could lead to a shortfall in the European labour market
in the medium term.

Reversing trends

towards early retirement and
3.1.3.
encouraging employers to retain or recruit older workers are
vital in raising the overall level of employment in this age
group and overall. There now appears to be a greater
recognition of these facts amongst policy-makers, employers
Increasingly, Member States are
and the general public.
reversing early retirement policies, whilst local and regional
authorities are providing more advice, education, training
and public awareness measures, in addition to being major
employers in their own right.

3.2. EU policy for the elderly

Although the primary competence in this field rests
3.2.1.
with local, regional and national governments, the EU can play
an important role, notably in the areas of stimulating new
thinking and the exchange of best practice. At the European
level,
interest in the position of older workers was first
addressed in the 1989 Charter on the fundamental social rights
of workers. In its 1995 Resolution on the Employment of
Older Workers, the Council of Ministers stressed two key
principles, namely the need to increase efforts to adapt
professional training and conditions of work to older workers’
needs; and measures to prevent the exclusion of older workers
from the labour market.

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3.2.2.
It also proposed specific measures including raising
awareness among employers of the consequences of making
older workers redundant, promoting the reintegration of older
unemployed workers, and eliminating possible legislative
barriers to the employment of older workers.

— by encouraging organizations to comply with best practice
(e.g. publicity campaigns to improve attitudes towards
older workers and to counter myths and stereotypes;
provide employers with information about the employ-
ment of older workers and examples of best practice).

Until

recently, subsequent statements

from the
3.2.3.
Council and other institutions have not capitalised on the
1995 Resolution. However, in October 1998 the European
Parliament held a successful conference on older people which
highlighted the situation of older workers in the EU, and in
December 1998 the Vienna Council
incorporated a new
guideline on older workers in the Employment Strategy to
help ‘older workers to increase their participation in the labour
force.’

3.2.4.
The Employment Strategy also encourages lifelong
learning, an important component of any strategy to increase
employment of older people by enabling them to up-date their
skills to cope with evolving work processes.

The Amsterdam Treaty contains a new clause (new
3.2.5.
Article 13) to combat discrimination on the basis of age. This
will be followed up by a new directive, which is expected to be
published soon after the Treaty enters into force.

3.3. Dissemination of good practice

3.3.1.
Primary competence concerning employment rests
with the Member States, and local and regional adminis-
trations. The single most important contribution that the
European Union can provide in this field is probably to
facilitate the exchange of good practice in employing older
workers.

3.3.2.
As a large employer, local and regional authorities
can themselves promote good practice in their own operations
and administration. Government at local, regional or central
level can also promote good practice in many other ways:

3.3.3.
The European Foundation for the Improvement of
Living and Working Conditions considers that good practice
in the employment of older workers consists of combating
age barriers (whether official or inherent) and providing an
environment in which each individual is able to achieve his or
her potential without being disadvantaged by their age. Some
initial conclusions can be drawn from case studies gathered by
the Dublin Foundation, mainly from the private sector. As a
local employer, local and regional authorities can also apply
these practices within their own organizations in several ways.

there are several

Corporate culture:

3.3.4.
‘economic’
reasons why senior management should support the retention
and recruitment of older workers: prevention of skill shortages
and retention of acquired knowledge (older workers have
accumulated experience and best practice that would be
lost to the organisation if they were to leave prematurely);
maximising recruitment potential
(by benefiting from the
widest possible pool of potential recruits); benefiting from
turnover rates (reduces the cost of repeated
lower staff
recruitment campaigns); promoting diversity in the workforce.
Encouragement from senior management can resist and over-
come negative attitudes towards older workers that can exist
the
levels in an organization, and can be one of
at all
most crucial factors in this context. Through accountability
mechanisms (e.g. equality action plans and age auditing) senior
management can ensure that corporate age policy objectives
are effectively implemented. It is clear that without the backing
of senior management, good practice will not take root in an
organization.

— through funding (e.g. wage subsidies;

lifelong learning;

training courses and grants, etc.);

— by providing services that do not exist elsewhere (e.g. by
providing vocational and further training; careers guidance;
assistance with job search and interview-training; social
support and counselling; and support for start-up enter-
prises and self-employment);

— by enforcing regulations (e.g. anti-discrimination legis-

lation);

3.3.5.
A supportive human resource environment: The
human resources department is the guardian of good practice
this is applied through supporting
and can ensure that
measures, especially in terms of recruitment
(removal of
age requirements), job design (e.g. flexible working), career
planning, training policy (to help older workers adapt and to
increase age-awareness in other staff) and phased retirement
programmes. Attitudes towards older workers can be a major
obstacle, so personnel departments and unions should work
together to inform employees and management about ageing
for retaining/recruiting older
and the ‘economic reasons’
workers and their particular needs, and how to combat
prejudice against older people.

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3.3.6.
Commitment from older workers: Older workers
must be prepared to adapt to a changing work environment,
and new working practices, just as employers should take their
needs into account. For example, older workers must be
prepared to be trained or retrained to update their skills or
acquire new ones, the employer can help by consulting these
workers in designing training programmes to suit their older
employees’ needs. In some cases, older workers may need to
be flexible with regard to the content and quantity of work,
the division between work and leisure time and the transition
to retirement.

3.3.7.
Implementation can be best achieved through: open
communication with staff and their representatives; conscious-
ness-raising among line managers; staged implementation;
regular monitoring and evaluation (workforce profile; recruit-
ment profile; training take-up).

4. Conclusions: The regional and local dimension and

older people

4.1.
The levels of government closest to the citizen, in other
words regional and local government, have an important role
to play in promoting a spirit of active involvement, social
participation and economic activity among citizens of all age
groups and building solidarity between the generations.

With this in mind, an ideal opportunity for reinserting older
people into active life is to use them as instructors to train
young people in employment so that society can reap the
benefit of the ideas and experiences they have accumulated
over many years in work.

4.2.
EU Member States should draw up strategies for the
elderly at the regional and local level, aimed at identifying the
needs and measures to be taken concerning the work, income,
housing, care, assistance and participation of older people. It
is important for older people themselves, and all those who

Brussels, 16 September 1999.

work with them, to play a comprehensive role in devising such
strategies. Regional and local authorities in the Member States
could collect examples of good working practices in services
for the elderly, and exchange these by means of networking.

At the same time, close coordination should be maintained
between local and regional authorities on the one hand, and
national authorities on the other.

4.3.
EU policies should pay as much attention to the needs
of the older section of the population as they do to those of
other population groups. The impact of policies on the
position of older people should be evaluated more effectively
than at present.
In addition, the EU should draw up an
action plan encompassing the regional and local levels, which
addresses issues relating to ageing.

4.4.
There is a clear value in establishing good-practice
networks on the employment of older people within and
between Member States. Local and regional authorities across
the EU have a wealth of good practice to offer. A great deal
could also be learnt from large employers in the private sector.
Nevertheless, good initiatives are taking place at local and
regional level through the EU, but they are not getting the
visibility they deserve to enable other authorities to benefit
from their experience.

4.5.
Therefore the COR proposes drawing up a vademecum
of good practice in employment of older people in local and
regional government as a constructive and lasting contribution
towards the UN International Year of Older Persons.

4.6.
The COR opinion on the Fifth R&D framework stressed
the need for research into the ageing population. The new
programme includes a dedicated research programme for the
elderly and people with disabilities. More information on and
research into care for the elderly is needed, not least to cope
with dementia and depression-related illnesses. The local and
regional authorities can play a considerable part in helping to
boost this necessary research.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Manfred DAMMEYER