Pregledni rad
https://doi.org/10.3935/rsp.v8i3.199
Difficusltes in Employing Elderly Persons
Nada Kerovec
; Hrvatski zavod za zapošljavanje
Sažetak
Global restructuring of economy in the 1980s and 1990s mostly reflected on elderly workers. Since unemployment was relatively high in those years throughout Europe, all social partners (governments, employers and unions) supported downsizing of labour by stimulating redundant elderly labour force to retire, which was politically more acceptable than the unemployment of the younger generation. Although the strategies of premature retirement from labour force somewhat differed in details in different countries of the European Union, the outcome was the same: elderly workers have been systematically and permanently excluded from labour force. More than three quarters of labour force left employment before official retirement age. Due to focus that employment policy gave to early retirement of elderly workers i.e. their exclusion, some authors simply call such an approach early retirement culture. In the 1970s, 1980s and in the beginning of the 1990s, as one of the measures to reduce unemployment, especially unemployment of the younger generation, it has become predominant in nearly all European countries. Problems in employment of elderly persons appeared in Croatia much later than in the neighbouring European countries. Significant changes in the unemployment structure that occurred in our country in the last decade were to the detriment of this category of workers. “Providing” for elderly persons has largely been solved by early retirement (customarily accompanied by so-called redemption of the years of service), and those elderly persons who did not fulfil legal requirements for early retirement remained either unemployed or, after some period of time, “dropped out” of the labour force. Unemployment of elderly persons has rapidly increased during a few recent years. Compared to other age groups, workers over 50 have a considerably higher unemployment rate. In addition to that, once they become unemployed (which occurs more and more frequently due to increasing number of bankruptcies), this group regularly transfers to long term unemployment, with slim chances of re-employment. In the situation where labour offer considerably outnumbers its demand (which has been the case in our country for some time), some groups need special help on the labour marker, and elderly workers certainly belong to them. Therefore, in defining the employment policy, both on the national and regional level, this group at risk should receive special attention in the sense of implementation of special programs to encourage their employment.
Ključne riječi
unemployment; employment of elderly persons; employment programs; Europe; Croatia; employability; population ageing
Hrčak ID:
30063
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.3.2001.
Posjeta: 6.729 *