Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on "Older workers"
Date: 2000-10-19
Institutions: Provisional data
Subjects: employment policy, labour market, length of studies, market access, older worker, population ageing

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Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on ‘Older workers’

(2001/C 14/12)

On 2 March 2000 the Economic and Social Committee decided, under Rule 23(3) of its Rules of
Procedure, to draw up an opinion on ‘Older workers’.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 3 October 2000. The rapporteur was Mr Dantin.

At its 376th plenary session of 19 October 2000 the Economic and Social Committee adopted the
following opinion by 97 votes in favour, one against and two abstentions.

1.

Introduction

1.1.
The Lisbon European Council set the EU an ambitious
objective with regard to the employment rate, which was to
be raised ‘as close as possible to 70 % by 2010’ and 60 % for
women. This objective is justified for both social and economic
reasons. Indeed, employment provides the best protection
against social exclusion. It is also fundamental for financing
social protection. Failure to respond to this objective would
put a brake on economic growth.

1.2.
The gradual achievement of this objective will inevi-
tably present the majority of countries with the particular
challenge of raising the employment rate among older workers,
which is falling in all the Member States among the 50-64 age
group. Reversing this trend will require Member States to
adapt their current policies, and in particular to introduce
structural reforms.

1.3.
In this connection, point 4 of the Annex of the
Guidelines for Member States’ Employment Policies 2000
confirms the need to introduce a policy aimed at extending
active working life through appropriate measures ‘so that older
workers are also able to remain and participate actively in
working life’.

1.4.
This document will also examine the issue of early
retirement schemes and other arrangements for early departure
from the labour market, which the Committee has already
touched upon in some of its previous opinions. Indeed this
phenomenon has a critical influence on the employment rate
of this age group.

1.5.
The Committee feels that the issue of older workers is
of such importance that it warrants an own-initiative opinion
addressing the different aspects of the problem. With this
opinion the Committee has also sought to stress the need for
a positive approach to older workers,
insofar as the way
they are currently treated not only reflects a discriminatory

conception of society lacking in solidarity, but in many cases
results in the loss of highly qualified staff and a consequent fall
in the overall
the
Committee is of the view that if scientific progress now allows
more time to enjoy life, by the same token, our society should
seek to organise itself so that we get more out of life for longer.

level of competitiveness. Furthermore,

it

then examines the reasons for the fall

The opinion begins by mentioning a series of key facts and
figures,
in the
employment rate among older workers, and concludes with a
discussion of possible solutions with a view to proposing a
Community approach drawing on the practices and experience
of various EU countries.

2.

The facts

Over the last twenty years the distribution of work

2.1.
over the course of a lifetime has undergone major upheavals.

2.1.1.
Young people enter the labour market later because
of longer periods spent in full-time education, training and
difficulties in finding suitable work (1).

The employment rate among the total over 55 age
2.1.2.
group has fallen considerably in Europe and to a lesser extent
across the Atlantic: in 1999 it was 37 % among the 55-64 age
group in the European Union and 55 % in the USA (2).

(1) Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on ‘Youth

unemployment’, OJ C 18, 22.1.1996.

(2) Contribution by the European Commission to the Lisbon Social

Affairs Council. Source Eurostat.

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Since the 1970s the employment rate has fallen continu-
ously (1) and on a large scale, particularly between 1980 and
1985 (2). Indeed, between 1971 and 1999 the figure for the
male population fell by 47,4 % in France, 45,8 % in the
Netherlands, 39 % in Spain, 38,7 % in Germany, 30 % in
Ireland and more than 29 % in Portugal and the United
Kingdom. It would probably be fair to speak of an individualis-
ation of career paths. This does not however reflect greater
choice for the individual as early departure from the labour
market is in general more often imposed rather than chosen.
The new flexibility at the end of a career is instead a reflection
of labour market pressures and the human resource strategies
of companies and public authorities in response to them (3).

The trend is therefore for working life to become
2.2.
shorter at both ends of the age spectrum and will henceforth
be dominated by age groups situated at the middle of this
spectrum.

in the number of young people entering the labour

fall
market (6).

2.6.
The question for the future is whether the European
Union, Member States and the social partners will be able to
cope with such a reduced labour force or whether companies
will have to either adapt the way they produce goods and
provide services to an older workforce which will have
undergone continuous training and be in need of motivation,
or rely on immigrant labour, or relocate certain operations to
immigration and relocations
third countries.
would only partially resolve the problem — but not the root
cause — of the lack of highly qualified labour. However this
discussion should include the need to improve the ability of
society to integrate an increasing number of young people,
women and the unemployed (particularly the long-term unem-
ployed) into working life. A genuine social dialogue should
take place on these different strategies.

In any case,

2.3.
The 50-64 age group is of particular importance for
employment policy. According to Eurostat forecasts, at EU
level it will increase as a proportion of the total population
from 25 % in 1995 to 34,4 % in 2025. This increase will occur
much more quickly in the Scandinavian countries over the
next decade (4). It should be pointed out that this figure is only
an average and that more extreme situations may also exist at
the regional level or in certain employment areas.

3. Causes

3.1.
The early departure of older workers from the labour
market is largely the result of a combination of three essential
factors: companies, employees and legal and agreement-based
provisions.

This development

is particularly worrying in the
2.4.
context of the acute demographic ageing which Member States
will experience from the beginning of the third millennium
onwards (5).

3.2. Companies

2.5.
In addition to the financial implications which this has
for pension schemes, it raises the question of whether the
workforce will be sufficient to ensure countries’ productive
output. Demographic ageing can be expected to result in a
relentless ageing of the workforce at the same time as labour
becomes a scarce resource, without
taking into account
potential immigration. From a macro-economic perspective,
this situation will
lead to pressure on wages, which is
inflationary.

2.5.1.
In some Member States the average age of the active
population is 40 and sometimes slightly higher because of the

3.2.1.
In the context of continual and rapid changes to the
production system and manufacturing processes, and in a
continually evolving economy and market, companies must
adapt, evolve and restructure if they are to succeed in a global
environment at the same time as striking a balance between
social and economic concerns, as this is the only way of
ensuring company dynamism and growth. It follows that
companies need room for manoeuvre and breathing space.

3.2.2.
This room for manoeuvre resides in the quantity and
quality of jobs, in particular those of older workers. This is
particularly the case with regard to the ‘social plans’ introduced
after restructuring operations.

(1) See tables 1 and 2, 2a and 2b.
(2) See table 3.
(3) Guillemard 1986; Casey et Laczko 1989.
(4) See table 4.
(5) ‘The demographic situation in the EU and future prospects’.

(6) Anne-Marie Guillemard, ‘Salariés vieillissants et marché du travail’,
in rapport de l’Observatoire européen des politiques de vieillesse et de
retraite, DG V, Bruxelles, January 1993; by the same author, ‘vers
un nouveau contrat entre générations pour les retraites’. Anne-
Marie Guillemard is a sociologist and lecturer at the university of
Paris V — Sorbonne — and is a member of the French university
institute.

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3.2.3.
Irrespective of these ‘social plans’, the introduction
of early retirement enables companies to replace older workers,
who they view as relatively unproductive and as having
obsolete skills, with younger and fewer workers. They view
this as helping to improve their competitiveness as well as
lightening their pay roll and rebalancing their age structure.
However,
this situation reflects shortcomings in human
resource management and above all an absence of forward-
looking management of employment and qualifications. One
consequence is that companies sometimes deprive themselves
of know-how, making it more difficult to integrate young
people as a result of a reduced capacity to impart knowledge
and provide tutoring.

However the following aspects cannot be ignored:

— the difficulties experienced by certain employees in
adapting to, and training for new technologically
advanced work processes. Special attention must be paid
to this problem as it can ultimately result in exclusion;

— the lack of enthusiasm in some quarters, often among
employees with very few or no skills, either because
they do not feel qualified on account of their lack of
educational achievement, or because they do not feel any
need as retirement is imminent.

3.2.4.
There is already a category of middle-aged employees
in companies who are considered to have no future and who
employers are hesitant to promote or train. It is paradoxical
that the 40-60 age group, which makes up the baby-boomer
generation, will account for the majority of the active popu-
lation from 2001 onwards.

3.2.5.
At the same time, the large increase in people leaving
the labour market early has contributed to the devaluing of
ageing workers on the labour market. The lowering of age
thresholds with a view to facilitating early departure from the
labour market has had a major impact on these workers as it
has changed, in the mind of employers, the age at which
workers may be considered to be ‘too old’. Indeed, there is
increasing evidence of discrimination against older workers at
the recruitment stage in all European countries. The most
general indication at European Union level has been provided
by Eurobarometer studies carried out during the European
Year of the Elderly and of Solidarity between Generations: a
survey of the general public which asked whether ageing
workers were discriminated against in recruitment procedures
revealed that four out of five people claimed that discrimi-
nation did actually take place (1).

3.3. Employees

3.3.1. Much has been made of the pressure placed on
employees to leave their jobs before the legal retirement age,
even though they would have liked to continue working. This
type of case exists but it would not be accurate to depict it as
either the only type, or even the most common.

3.3.2.
Only four out of ten employees would like to have
continued working (2). Indeed, the widespread desire to share
in a new and attractive distribution of the benefits of growth
must not be underestimated, as well as the weariness that
comes from doing an unrewarding, often repetitive and
extremely demanding job, sometimes for more than forty
years, causing people to aspire to a different lifestyle. It is often
with the feeling of having already ‘contributed a lot’ that
voluntary retirement is taken up. From this perspective it
would be useful to know what new conditions would be
needed to reverse this way of thinking. The Commission could
carry out a study on this.

Under the present conditions it can be said that a convergence
of interests often exists between the employee and his com-
pany, in other words an objective alliance which is generally
carried over into the collective agreements reached by the
social partners at different negotiating levels, including that of
companies and public institutions.

Furthermore,

3.3.3.
from a psychological perspective,
steeped in corporate behaviour, the older or ageing worker
implicitly feels that he is no longer viewed in a privileged way
as someone approaching the age at which you have the
legitimate right to retire and relax. Instead he has become
someone defined as ‘incapable’ of working or as ‘unemploy-
able’. When nearly half of those drawing their pension have
left work before retirement age on the grounds of ‘invalidity’,
as in certain European Union countries, the subsequent time
spent in inactivity tends to be viewed not as time during which
you are entitled to take things easy, but as the inability to
work. This perception of age and its labelling effects cannot
help but have an behavioural impact in that it promotes the
development — in the mind of the employee and in practice
— of a feeling of marginalisation within the company, the
labour market and society itself.

3.3.4.
‘shock’ or ‘clash’ of cultures, distanced by time and age.

To this should be added the so-called generational

(1) European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
‘Combating age barriers in employment’,

Conditions (1997),
p. 23.

(2) ‘Age and Attitudes — Main Results from a Eurobarometer Survey’,

Commission of the EC, 1993.

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As a result of the economic crisis of the 1980s and 1990s
many companies and public services introduced a partial or
often total freeze on recruitment and staff turnover, leading to
a shift in the middle section of their age pyramid.

When, as a result of economic recovery, recruitment has taken
off again, it tends to be targeted primarily at younger people
who represent the future in the eyes of the company. This
leads to older workers feeling devalued and under-appreciated
within the company. In addition, they may come into conflict
with younger generations over their relationship to work, their
working methods, and their view of work organisation, as they
feel these different attitudes call into question the way they
have worked for decades. This can only fuel and increase their
desire to leave the labour market early.

3.3.5
have liked to continue working.
all,
characteristics:

On the other hand, four out of ten employees would
In most cases, but not
the following

their profile reflects one or several of

— they have a high-level skill which makes their work
interesting, if not fascinating and rewarding, sometimes
making it into more of a hobby. Their job is their pastime
as well as their bread and butter (researchers, engineers,
other highly qualified staff, etc.). For them stopping work
comes as an unwelcome blow;

— they hold a senior position within the company to which
their social status is linked, and which is

they feel
something they wish to hold on to;

— they have not prepared themselves for ‘inactivity’ and
the termination of their working life makes them feel
worthless and confronts them with a seemingly unfillable
void of inactivity;

— they still have family dependants (children or older people
in their care, unpaid loans, divorce-related costs, etc.) and
cannot afford even a minimal fall in their income;

— they are not yet entitled to draw a full pension.

— ...

3.4. Legal and agreement-based provisions

3.4.1.1.
Some have insisted on the role of social protection
and in particular public and private pension schemes, as well
as mechanisms guaranteeing replacement income in the event
of unemployment or an early end to working life. They have
demonstrated that
these schemes contained incentives or
disincentives to working beyond a certain age and that
individual cases of early retirement needed to be understood
against this background (1).

3.4.1.2.
Other work has focused on the decisive role of the
labour market and of corporate behaviour to interpret the
trend towards early departure from the labour market (2).

If these two approaches are important to the analysis
3.4.2.
it is not appropriate to set them in diametrical opposition to
each other or to say that one precludes the other. On the
contrary they are intimately linked.

Social protection or its alternatives, whether legally prescribed
or agreement based in nature, are only means at the disposal
of the labour market for alleviating the social costs in terms of
long-term unemployment and exclusion. In other words, early
retirement has been used as an instrument of ‘employment
policy’ or more precisely as an instrument to fight unemploy-
ment. In many Member States it is clear that these instruments
have often become, and are considered by companies, as a
human resource management tool and by employees as a
social benefit and entitlement.

4.

Possible solutions

4.1.
Part of the solution to readjusting the balance between
active and inactive workers and maintaining an optimally sized
workforce with regard to the demographic forecasts for the
European Union consists in raising the number of employees
over the age of 55 in work. Of course this must strike a
desirable balance between work and retirement, and leisure
time and work, as valued under the European social model.

4.2.
Such a step must be planned on a medium-term basis
by introducing a policy of maintaining life-long employability
and retraining employees — women as well as men — over
the age of 40. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine a spontaneously
harmonious scenario, in which the reversal of labour market
trends would be sufficient to convince companies to retain
their older workers and to decide to ‘teach an old dog new
tricks’.

3.4.1. Most research on reducing working life has generally
prioritised two factors.

(1) Quinn et al. 1990; Quinn et Burkhauser 1990.
(2) Standing, 1986; Sorensen, 1989.

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4.2.1.
In addition to the practical measures which need to
be taken, it is essential for perceptions to change and for
everything possible to be done to bring about a change in
attitudes and to raise awareness among both companies and
employees. Working beyond the age of 55 must be viewed as
rewarding by employees, while companies and public services
must be aware of the benefits which older workers can bring
(experience, know-how, knowledge, etc.).

into account as soon as employees enter the labour market.
Rigorous forward-looking management of jobs and qualifi-
cations and, more generally, effective human resource manage-
ment are therefore essential.

As demonstrated by the Dublin-based Foundation’s
4.3.3.
study, a policy for age-groups must take the five following
factors into account:

4.2.2.
The Committee therefore urges the Commission to
promote, in cooperation with the Member States, an extensive
information and enlightenment campaign to help generate a
positive attitude to the role played by older workers in
companies and the public services.

— recruitment and retirement;

— vocational training, further training and promotion;

An examination of their participation in voluntary work,
NGOs and local life after they have taken up early retirement,
provides a direct demonstration of their dynamism, initiative
and effectiveness.

4.3.
It is particularly instructive and useful to be able to
draw lessons from the practices and experience of the Member
States. Thus, raising the employment rate among older workers
has been the aim of a series of initiatives by governments
and/or the social partners, in particular in Austria, Belgium,
Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Ireland.

Furthermore, a study by the European Foundation for the
Improvement of Living and Working Conditions has identified
a whole range of interesting examples among German, Belgian,
British, French, Greek, Italian and Dutch companies (1).

The Committee has drawn the following lessons from these
different analyses:

A change in thinking and attitudes is necessary. It is
4.3.1.
not enough to prohibit age limits in job adverts if recruitment
policies do not follow suit. If this change in attitudes is to
extend to society as a whole, it must not occur just among a
single group, but among all public authorities, employers and
employees.

The adoption of a policy for age-groups over 45-50
4.3.2.
does not go far enough. As stated by the Belgian ‘Conseil
supérieur de l’emploi’ (higher employment council), a policy
which seeks to address the problem of older workers comes
too late if it is only applied to this category of workers. Instead
what is needed is a human resource policy which takes age

(1) European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
Conditions (1997), ‘Combating age barriers in employment’.

— the flexible organisation of work;

— ergonomics and the definition of tasks;

— a change of attitudes within companies.

4.3.4.
impression on the Committee:

following

The

initiatives made

the

greatest

— the Belgian cross-sectoral agreement which encourages
additional vocational training by targeting groups with
poor employment prospects;

— public authority encouragement of training measures
aimed at certain target groups through the provision of
additional fiscal incentives, such as the tax reductions for
training measures in the Netherlands and those proposed
by the social partners in Austria;

— giving older workers responsibility for training their

younger colleagues and/or apprentices;

— part-time work opportunities, more flexible career breaks
or gradual early retirement (Germany, Finland, Belgium,
France);

— trade-offs between working time reductions and pay
increases (as in some Swedish sectoral agreements);

— a reduction in employer contributions for older workers

or for the recruitment of older job applicants;

— the possibility for employees to open a ‘skills account’
which qualifies for a tax reduction relative to the amount
deposited. These savings, to which the employer con-
tributes an equal amount, allow the employee to take a
long period of study leave in order to undergo additional
training without loss of income (Sweden).

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4.3.5.
The Committee examined whether salary levels and
profiles, which are often predetermined, made the jobs of older
workers more precarious (see 3.2.3). A recurring feature is that
an older worker is paid more than a younger counterpart
with the same qualifications (seniority bonuses, age-related
promotion, etc.). In many Member States this factor appears
to affect both their chances of being recruited and of keeping
their jobs. Without being certain of anything, or having any
definitive positions or guidelines on this issue and without
having thought further ahead, the Committee nevertheless
feels that this issue must not be ignored or avoided, no matter
how difficult and sensitive it may be to address. On the basis
of its investigations, it recommends drawing up a list of the
advantages and disadvantages of ultimately reversing pay
scales, so that salaries would increase at a faster rate at the
beginning of a career, with more gradual increases later on. Of
course, even though this list is mainly geared towards the case
of older workers,
it would not be possible to accept the
negative consequences that might ensue with regard to all or
some of the components of an equitable wage policy and
career progression.

4.3.6. With particular regard to women, it is worth stressing
that a shortage of support services — particularly care services
for family members and child care for young children — leads
many between the ages of 50 and 60 to give up work.

4.4.
In the majority of countries the question of how early
retirement schemes will evolve is proving to be a particularly
difficult issue.

However numerous studies emphasise the need to raise the
age of early retirement. It is evident that a debate on this
subject is becoming inevitable. As soon as it can no longer be
put off, the Committee feels that the issue must be situated
within a broader context. As stressed by the Committee in its
opinion on A Concerted Strategy for Modernising Social
Protection,
‘for both social and economic reasons, flexible
pension policies should be developed as an alternative to
early retirement and lifelong learning programmes should be
established in order to encourage workers to retrain in good
time and find new areas of employment(1)’.

The Committee is of the view that two sets of examples of
early retirement are, however, worth consideration, and merit
attention and caution:

— early retirement in cases of large restructuring operations,
since it is true that a ‘young’ pensioner is preferable to a
long-term unemployed person with no prospect of
finding a job again;

(1) OJ C 177, 26.4.2000.

— total or partial early retirement offset by the recruitment
of a corresponding number of job-seekers, since it is also
true that it is better to have one person retired than to
keep another unemployed with no prospects of inte-
gration into working life.

Indeed, if action must be taken to address the problem of
demographic change and the predicted reduction in the size of
the workforce, it must be ensured that the chosen remedy does
not actually make matters worse, increasing exclusion and
thereby reducing social cohesion.

4.5.
Finally, with a view to obtaining results over the
medium-term, the instrument which would help to ensure
effective policy in this area needs to be identified.

4.5.1.
As the circumstances of companies in all Member
States are highly diverse, it is clear that any effective solution
needs to be built on an in-depth knowledge of the real situation
as well as implementation as close as possible to the grass-
roots level.

From this perspective, and irrespective of

4.5.1.1.
the
approach or instrument chosen by the EU, it is essential to
consult the social partners and to take their views into account.
This is the only way of ensuring that the choices made are
implemented effectively.

4.5.2.
The Committee feels that there are four different
types of instrument — with varying degrees of effectiveness
— which can help to get the ball rolling at the EU level:

— the dialogue between the European social partners;

— a targeted and thought-provoking ‘employment guideline’

specifically for this problem;

— a voluntary code of conduct;

— a directive.

4.5.2.1.
The European social partners could themselves, or
at the request of the Commission, initiate a social dialogue on
this subject leading to an exchange of views, an opinion,
recommendations or any other form of conclusions which
they might consider to be useful. The results of this dialogue
could, for example, be fleshed out if necessary and used to
produce a ‘voluntary code of good practice’. Above all they
could contribute to the drawing up of precise and thought-
provoking employment guidelines, which the Committee feels
are the most appropriate instrument for tackling this problem.
The advantage of this approach is that it would result in
guidelines and measures which would be the synthesis or
consensus of the positions of the main actors responsible for
implementation on the ground at company level. Furthermore,
these players are in the best position to assess the feasibility of
the approaches taken.

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4.5.2.2.
A targeted and thought-provoking employment
guideline could have the advantage of allowing more diverse
forms of implementation, giving operational responsibility to
the Member States, but within a commonly defined framework.
However, in order to be effective, such an approach should
give a large share of the initiative to the social partners. In any
case, and on a more general level, they should be involved in
drawing up and implementing the national action plans on
employment and older workers.

4.5.2.3.
A voluntary code of conduct based on good
practice and adopted by the European Union would enable
companies to adopt a flexible approach suited to their
circumstances.

The Committee does not feel that priority should
4.5.2.4.
be given to a directive initiated by and under the sole
responsibility of the Commission. Indeed this could be per-
ceived as being an over-generalized response to a diverse
situation, even if it only defined a framework; above all it could
be perceived as being too far-removed from the operators
responsible for its implementation.

4.6. Whichever instrument is chosen, the Committee would
like the Commission to examine to what extent the ESF could
contribute financially to the measures which will have to be
taken (1).

5. Conclusions

The Committee approves the decision by the Lisbon
5.1.
European Council to raise employment ‘as close as possible to
70 % by 2010’.

5.2.

Having regard to the:

— demographic problems with which the European Union

will eventually be faced;

— the current employment rate among the 55-64 age group,

which is in continual decline everywhere;

— the constant growth of this age group, both in terms of
total numbers and in relation to other age groups;

(1) European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
Conditions (1997), ‘Combating age barriers in employment’.

Brussels, 19 October 2000.

— current company and employee practice, as well as
Member States’ legal and agreement-based provisions,

the Committee considers that the Council’s objective can only
be reached if measures are taken by the European Union, the
Member States and the social partners with a view to raising
the employment rate among older workers.

Failure to do so would be a source of concern, as the workforce
will diminish, putting a brake on growth, with implications
for employment, and the purchasing power of both current
and future pensioners.

5.3.
The first step must be to bring about a change in
attitudes and to raise awareness among companies and
employees. Working beyond the age of 55 must be viewed as
rewarding for the employee and valuable for companies.
Without such a collective awareness, any practical measures
which are adopted will not have an optimal impact.

The Committee therefore urges the Commission to promote,
in cooperation with the Member States, an awareness-raising,
information and enlightenment campaign targeted at the main
stakeholders as well as society in general, in order to help
bring about a positive perception of the role which older
workers can play in companies and the public services.

5.4.
In point 4 of this opinion the Committee makes a
series of practical suggestions based either on Member States’
best practice, either legislative or agreement-based in nature,
or on its own reflections and investigations, and also refers to
the Dublin Foundation’s proposals which it feels are the most
important.

The aim of these suggestions is to make a positive contribution
to the debate and to play a role in the directions and decisions
which the social partners, the Council and Member States will
have to take.

5.5. With regard to the appropriate instrument at the
European Union level, the Committee does not feel that a
directive would be the most suitable choice.

It recommends that the social partners — either at their own-
initiative or at the request of the Commission — initiate a
social dialogue on this subject leading to an exchange of
views, an opinion, recommendations or any other form of
conclusions which they might consider to be useful. The
results of this dialogue could be fleshed out if necessary and
used to draw up a ‘voluntary code of good practice’. Above all
they could contribute to the drawing up of precise and
thought-provoking employment guidelines, which the Com-
mittee feels are the most appropriate instrument for tackling
this issue.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS

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APPENDIX

to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee

Table 1 — Employment rates among the male population (55-64 age group) in 1986 (*) and 1997

(*)

Source: Eurostat study of the working population, excluding Austria, Sweden and Finland.

The figures for the first reference year for these three Member states are based on national studies for 1985.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

16.1.2001

Table 2 — Employment activity rates for men 55-64 years old (a) in 12 countries: 1971-1997

Country

1971

1975

1980

1985

1987

1989

1991

1993

1995

1996

1997

Variation

United States

77,3

71,4

68,8

64,4

64,5

64,3

63,9

63,1

63,6

64,7

65,5

France

Germany (b)

Netherlands

Sweden

73,0

67,1

65,3

46,7

43,9

43,3

42,0

40,3

38,7

38,6

38,4

77,1

66,7

64,1

53,6

54,1

51,7

49,9

48,0

48,0

48,0

47,3

79,3

69,9

61,0

44,2

44,7

44,2

41,8

40,5

41,0

40,7

43,0

82,8

80,7

77,5

73,2

73,4

73,9

73,7

65,9

64,4

66,0

64,7

United Kingdom

82,9

82,0

73,9

59,4

58,1

61,6

61,5

55,9

56,0

57,0

58,6

Ireland

Portugal

Spain

Canada

Japan

Australia

Notes:

82,4

76,1

72,2

64,7

62,7

59,9

60,2

59,1

59,1

58,7

57,8

82,1

77,1

74,8

64,9

62,1

63,9

66,5

59,9

59,1

58,5

58,2

82,7

76,7

71,5

59,1

57,0

56,7

56,2

51,6

48,0

49,9

50,5

78,8

76,3

72,7

64,3

61,9

61,9

57,3

55,0

54,0

54,7

56,1

85,3

83,2

82,2

78,9

78,2

79,2

82,0

82,1

80,8

80,6

80,9

—

—

—

–56,0

56,3

58,93

54,5

50,7

55,3

54,4

54,3

—

a) Cross-sectional data are hard to interpret for women. They generally suggest stable or slightly rising rates throughout the period. But this
global result covers two contradictory trends that have affected women: the trend of women massively entering the labour market, which
started at different dates depending on the country; and the early exit trend. When cohort analyses could be made, they were able to
disentangle these trends. They proved that women, like men, have had to retire early even though this trend has been hidden by their massive
entry in the labour market

–15,3

–47,4

–38,7

–45,8

–22,0

–29,3

–30,0

–29,1

–39,0

–29,0

–5,16

b) Reunified Germany as of 1991.

Source:

OECD data plus our own calculations.

16.1.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 14/59

Table 2a — Employment rates by age group among men over 55 in 12 Member States of the EU

55-59

60-64

55-64

65-69

B

DK

F

G

GR

IRL

I

L

NL

P

S

UK

60,9
54,2
48,1
48,4
48,7
48,6

27,4
22,4
19,4
18,9
20,2
17,3

47,7
38,8
34,4
34,3
34,7

5,1
5,5
4,2
3,3
3,9
2,3

77,4
78,3
78,8
81,6
75,7
75,1

48,3
52,6
51,7
48,6
45,8
40,9

63,1
65,8
65,5
65,6
61,5

26,4
26,0
25,9
27,4
26,0
3,8

60,3
57,3
56,3
56,2
58,1
55,9

28,2
22,0
19,4
16,0
13,5
12,5

46,0
40,6
38,7
37,0
35,9

7,9
7,1
6,1
5,1
5,2
2,5

77,6
73,9
72,2
73,9
67,2
63,9

38,3
30,8
31,7
32,9
28,5
26,1

60,2
55,4
54,1
54,3
49,5

10,2
8,5
7,4
8,6
6,9
4,3

76,4
73,7
72,4
70,7
70,8
71,0

58,2
51,7
49,2
45,5
45,9
45,5

68,8
64,0
61,6
58,4
58,6

34,1
26,8
24,1
21,4
21,2
11,7

76,5
71,6
69,9
69,6
66,7
67,8

63,3
57,3
55,0
50,4
52,1
50,6

70,3
64,6
62,7
60,2
59,8

31,6
28,3
26,8
25,7
25,7
16,0

71,1
67,2
66,4
66,4
63,9
59,3

35,9
36,7
36,4
34,5
33,1
29,6

55,3
52,7
52,0
50,9
48,9

15,0
15,5
13,8
12,8
12,0
6,2

52,5
74,7
65,3
56,5 — 72,1
69,9
63,4
54,6
73,5
63,6
62,8
68,8
60,9
53,3
68,9
59,3
51,3

19,5
62,8
34,2
16,1 — 53,5
53,7
25,1
18,0
54,2
21,7
22,8
55,4
21,4
15,7
52,2
21,0
15,1

79,1
67,9
66,6
69,4
66,7
60,7

60,4
45,6
44,0
43,2
43,0
38,0

75,8
73,3
72,6
74,9
69,5
67,3

52,5
48,1
49,1
49,4
47,5
45,1

50,5 —
38,0
39,6 — 63,2
62,2
44,1
39,7
64,6
44,0
42,9
62,0
42,2
40,0

— 64,3
61,1
57,5
61,1
55,9
63,3
56,9
58,7
55,0

10,2
4,5
4,2
5,5
4,3
2,1

5,3
— 30,3
30,6
10,0
31,5
9,7
28,5
11,1
20,6
5,8

— 20,7
10,9
7,5
7,4
7,0
2,9

13,0
11,7
11,3
13,5
14,1
7,3

1983
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994

1983
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994

1983
1986
1988
1990
1992

1983
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994

Source:

Guillemard 1993, Table 3.2, Eurostat study of the labour force 1992 (1994), Table 6: Eurostat study of the
labour force, unpublished.

C 14/60

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Official Journal of the European Communities

16.1.2001

Table 2b — Employment rates by age group among women over 50 in 12 Member States of the EU

50-54

55-59

60-64

B

DK

F

G

GR

IRL

I

L

NL

P

SP

UK

26,1
26,5
25,8
28,6
31,8

15,7
16,7
14,6
14,7
17,2
20,4

6,0
4,2
3,8
4,0
5,0
4,9

63,8
68,1
72,6
72,9
74,1

50,2
57,3
55,9
57,6
61,4
57,1

28,0
29,2
22,9
26,9
24,6
20,8

52,7
53,2
53,7
55,3
57,1

37,2
36,4
37,4
37,6
38,0
38,8

16,6
14,7
14,2
11,8
11,3
11,3

45,2
47,4
47,9
53,8
59,5

37,5
35,9
36,3
38,7
36,1
37,6

12,1
10,5
10,3
11,6
9,2
8,4

35,6
38,1
37,9
36,3
35,1

29,5
29,9
31,4
28,0
26,0
26,5

19,9
20,9
22,0
19,7
17,4
18,5

24,6
23,3
24,3
25,5
27,9

20,6
18,6
19,2
20,6
21,3
23,4

16,5
12,1
11,8
13,8
12,6
13,6

29,7
31,2
30,8
31,7
33,4

19,5
19,9
20,4
19,3
18,8
18,6

9,0
9,5
9,9
10,0
8,6
8,0

20,1
25,9 —
25,1 — 42,9
45,9
33,3
24,0
47,6
36,0
26,9
51,9
39,9
30,6

17,9
17,2 —
19,0 — 33,5
36,3
21,7
17,1
37,9
22,9
18,0
42,2
25,1
21,0
41,4
27,4
19,0

10,2
7,5
7,4
9,5
9,8
7,5

7,7
—
— 23,6
26,0
7,2
23,7
8,3
27,1
6,3
24,9
7,2

— 60,8
62,1
23,7
62,0
24,7
65,2
25,5
65,7
28,7

— 47,4
48,6
21,0
49,1
21,0
51,9
21,5
52,1
21,4
51,7
20,8

— 19,7
18,0
14,8
18,6
15,8
21,8
14,6
22,8
15,3
24,7
15,0

1983
1986
1988
1990
1992

1983
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994

1983
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994

Source:

Guillemard 1993, Table 3.2, Eurostat study of the labour force 1992 (1994), Table 6: Eurostat study of the
labour force, unpublished.

16.1.2001

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 14/61

Table 3 — A comparison of employment rates for men aged 55-64
(1970-1990)

Source: OECD, Labour force survey (1992).

C 14/62

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Official Journal of the European Communities

16.1.2001

Table 4 — The 50-64 age group as a proportion of the population
1995-2025

Source: Eurostat, Demographic estimates 1997 (basic scenario).