National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre

Transcription

1 National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre Dr Ruth Williams Research Fellow 31 Oct 2013

2 Productive Ageing Centre NSA 200,000 members aged 50 years and over Australia-wide PAC jointly funded by NSA & DSS Consumer focused research - driven by the needs and interests of Australians aged 50 years and over Inform Government, business and the community on productive ageing across the life course PAC reports, annual forums, conferences, & NSPAC grants

3 PAC research covers Health Education Aged care Employment Lifestyle Superannuation Retirement Planning Wellbeing Finance

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5 Background Benefits of increased labour market involvement of mature age Australians: enhancement of workplaces with additional skills, experiences and mentoring abilities provides income support for individuals standard of living and quality of life & tops up super balances Government tax revenue & less social security burden BUT: barriers to mature age employment persist ISSUES: age discrimination, education & training, caring responsibilities

6 Barriers to Employment Survey Barriers to Employment for Mature Age Australians Survey Survey commissioned by the Consultative Forum on Mature Age Participation Funded by DEEWR 3,007 respondents aged years Sample was stratified based on place of residence Data weighted to Australian Estimated Resident Population Collected information on the experiences, attitudes and perceptions of the barriers to employment

7 Age discrimination Age discrimination in the workplace and during the job search process can lead to mature age unemployment and early retirement Can occur in direct and indirect forms such as: being unable to fit into the current work team being overqualified lacking up-to-date skills 1 1 AHRC, 2013; CDAA, 2010

8 Directly being told you are too old for a job Reported by 16% of people who have worked or looked for work in the past 5 years By whom? Family member/ friend: 9% Private recruitment agency: 9% of users Potential employer: 7% of job seekers Work colleague: 6% of workers

9 Exclusion in the workplace Been unfairly excluded from training/ education Been denied a job promotion Been given lesser responsibilities Been paid less than other workers in similar roles 17 Received an unfair job evaluation 13 Been denied work-related benefits 8 Felt as though you were being forced out Received insulting jokes or comments Experienced any workplace exclusion 45 Workplace exclusion & attributed it to age 13 Adapted from the Australian Work Ability Index (Taylor & McLoughlin) % of people who worked in last 5 years

10 Exclusion during job search Been passed over for interview when qualified 38 Been unsuccessful at job interview stage when qualified 43 Been told too qualified for job Been asked your age during the job application process Put off applying for a job because of advertisement 23 Experienced any job search exclusion 70 Experienced any job search exclusion & attributed to age 36 Adapted from the Australian Work Ability Index (Taylor & McLoughlin) % of job seekers in last 5 years

11 Perceptions of age discrimination 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 67% Issue in workplace 83% Issue in looking for job

12 60% Employers thinking you are too old 50% 49% 40% 30% 31% 20% 10% 0% Reason for being retired Reason for not working

13 Employer s perspective 2010 DEEWR Survey of Employers (TNS Social Research 2010) Most employers cite no challenges with employing mature age workers Employers with a written mature age policy more likely to have strategies to retain mature age workers Strategies to retain mature age workers: reducing or changing workload, changing work arrangements and offering training/mentoring roles Evidence from AHRC more damning

14 Discussion Both direct and indirect forms of age discrimination found to be prevalent Significant proportions of people experiencing age discrimination state their desire to work is affected Perceptions of age discrimination are high which also affects their desire to look for work Age discrimination interacts strongly with other barriers to mature age employment, such as health issues and care-giving issues

15 Education & training Intergenerational Report key policy priority in Aust. to support mature age employment participation through re-training programs 4 Lack of investment in training by employers - short future, difficult to train 5, not aware of subsidies & difficulties identifying courses 6 Older workers defer training - unemployed for extended period, & seek work in non-preferred field 7 OECD - training declines (50+yrs) in Aus.-most countries 4 Commonwealth Government Encel & Studencki 2004, Hanley et al., 2007, ACS 2010, CDAA Spoehr et al. 2009, Taylor & Unwin Spoehr et al. 2009

16 Demand for training Training or up-skilling options would help 60% 50% 49% 54% 49% 50% 40% 30% 32% 28% 25% 31% 35% 32% 30% IT/computers 20% 19% Other training/upskilling 10% 0% Do job better Gain promotion/better job/better paid job Find more hours Find a job No training would help

17 Experiences with training Attended work-related training in last 5 years, if found useful and wanted to attend training but couldn t (%) 100% 80% 72% 90% 60% 40% 37% 20% 0% Attended training last 5 years Found training useful Training wanted to attend but couldn't

18 Types of training attended 50% 40% 33% 41% 30% 23% 20% 13% 10% 0% Off-the-job education/ training paid for by employer Off-the-job education/ training paid for by yourself On-the-job education/ training Other work-related education/ training

19 Why unable to attend training? 70% 60% 64% 50% 40% 30% 33% 44% 20% 10% 0% Employer wouldn t fund/ allow attendance Could not afford it Could not fit in with other work commitments 7% Training inappropriate for skills/ experience 1% Training inappropriate for language ability

20 Discussion Significant demand for training across year age group 70% said some training would help 90% stated attended training & found it useful Greater training attendance amongst females this is encouraging because they have lower mature age workforce participation and superannuation balances on average than men but also have greater unmet demand (37%)

21 Discussion While those 55+ face more employer reluctance to attend training compared with people aged 45-54, they also have less demand to attend training: concerns re; taking time off? perceived value & length of stay? unsupportive culture? Many will have 10+ years remaining & need to stay in workforce to improve retirement savings

22 Caregiving No. of mature age Australians balancing work & informal caring roles will increase The care of elderly people presents different challenges to that of child care Combining caring & work may lead to absences from work, difficulties developing skills, financial stress, & poor physical & mental health outcomes Recent legislative changes allowing older carers the right to request flexible work arrangements

23 Caregiving Carers who have an illness themselves face exclusion in workplace & during job search Caring affected super (60%) & skill dev. (42%) 61% of carers would be able to work an average of 18 hpw, if flexible options were available. This would increase no. of employed ppl (45-74) by 4% 49% of carers employed part-time would be able to work more hours if flexible options were available (135,242 ppl)

24 Discussion Caring prevents many older care-givers from working at all or working more hours Carers face: exclusion in the workforce, illness themselves, trouble accumulating super, & difficulties developing work-related skills Flexible work options are appealing to carers Population ageing means future care for the elderly could pose as a greater issue for both workers & employers than childcare

25 Conclusion Strategies such as having workplaces that are more accommodating to people with health issues, would aid in addressing age discrimination Creating & maintaining education & training opportunities for all, & cultivating a culture of lifelong learning Having a comprehensive suite of flexible work options available & a culture where staff feel comfortable accessing those options

26 Thank you