Editor’s picks
Latest news from around the world on mature workers for December 2020.
How Companies Can Meet the Needs of a Changing Workforce
As life expectancies stretch towards 100 years, the traditional career map urgently needs a rethink. The over-50s are the fastest-growing group of workers in the UK, increasing by about 300,000 between 2018 and 2019 and rapidly approaching a third of all workers. In the United States, the proportion of over-65 workers has doubled to 20% since 1985 and accounts for 53% of the college-educated workforce. Boomers are starting to think that retiring at 65 — when you may live to 80 or 90 — leaves a little too much time for golf. And that means we need to start redefining the standard career trajectory. – Harvard Business Review, 18 December 2020
Domestic and global challenges of China’s economic transformation
China’s well-known story of spectacular growth, at around 10 per cent annually for 40 years, is coming to an end because of both domestic and global factors.In analysing China’s prospects for the next several decades, three particular challenges are striking: The shift from a labour-surplus to a labour-scarce society; the shift from investment to innovation as the primary source of growth; and the shift in China’s global position from a rising power to an established power.Rapid ageing is probably China’s biggest domestic challenge. The population over 65 will increase from 200 million today to 400 million by 2049, while the overall population will decline slightly. – Today Online (with Reuters), 14 December 2020
Dozens of elected N.Y. Supreme Court judges sue Office of Court Administration for en masse terminations
Nearly 50 elected judges denied the chance to remain on the bench are suing the New York State court system for age discrimination — and claim the layoffs come when their judgeship is needed more than ever. All of the judges ordered to leave the bench are age 70 or older and subject to certification every two years, per state judicial law. But rather than being reviewed individually by the court system’s six-person administrative board as the state constitution requires, OCA terminated the veteran judges en masse to save money. – New York Daily News, 13 December 2020
Is HR obligated to offer paid eldercare leave? (Singapore)
This article examines employers’ responsibilities towards Singapore’s ‘sandwich generation’. – Human Resources Director Asia, 11 December 2020
Older workers are just as keen on learning as younger workers (USA)
Age discrimination often is related to the ability of older workers to learn new things. Recent research from MIT and Northwestern University highlights how not only is this discriminatory but it is also foolish, as older entrepreneurs can often be more successful than their younger peers. – Forbes, 10 December 2020
Older workers hold nearly 1 in 4 jobs. Why don’t we have an older workers bureau? (USA)
The share of workers 55 or older in the US labor market has more than doubled, rising from 12% in 1995 to nearly 25% in 2020. At no point in U.S. history have older workers been more essential, and economists predict the trend to continue. Yet this transformation has received scant attention from the federal government. – Forbes, 9 December 2020
Long-Term Trends in Employment by Age Group (USA)
In 2000, the three younger cohorts constituted 66% of the labor force. Now they have shrunk to 56%, which means the 45 and older workers have grown from 34% to 44% of the labor force. In the late 1990s, the dream of early retirement was common among the Boomers. But the reality is that an increasing number are delaying retirement and many who did retire have now re-entered the workforce. (Includes charts and analysis) – Advisor Perspectives, 8 December 2020
Are Older Workers Retiring Early In This Recession? (USA)
Job growth is slowing amid surging coronavirus infections. Many workers 55 years old and older are leaving the labor force in droves, while others keep working, even at high risks to their health and that of their families. More than a million older workers have left the labor force since the pandemic started. – Forbes, 8 December 2020
Worker loses age-bias claim over layoff affecting mostly older employees (USA)
A 59-year-old engineer who was fired during a companywide reduction in force (RIF) could not prove his individual claim of intentional age discrimination with statistical evidence that the RIF mostly impacted employees over age 50, a California appeals court ruled. – SHRM, 8 December 2020
Work for tomorrow: Innovating for an ageing workforce competition
The International Longevity Centre UK has launched an international program of work, supported by the Innovation Resource Center for Human Resources, to identify the challenges and innovations that will be involved in responding to an ageing workforce. This will be addressed through an international innovations competition across four key areas:
- Maintaining good health
- Building knowledge, skills, and competence
- Addressing discrimination and supporting diversity
- Adapting the workplace
The ILC will be talking to policymakers, employers and HR experts around the world about adapting workplaces for an ageing workforce, before launching an international innovations competition in early 2021.
The Work For Tomorrow program will:
- Highlight the productivity challenges of an ageing workforce
- Highlight the need for innovations to support productivity improvements in the light of an ageing workforce and the COVID-19 pandemic
- Identify innovations that meet the challenges, and suggest policy solutions for HR professionals, innovators and governments.
The ILC has released a consultation paper that sets out the context for the international competition and highlights the challenges to be overcome with the help of innovation. It welcomes thoughts and feedback. The consultation paper can be downloaded from its website.
Age discrimination gets real: Lessons from the last recession (USA)
Age discrimination by employers due to the pandemic is moving from a hypothetical to a real issue. But there are tactics older workers and job applicants can adopt accordingly to help protect themselves and their careers. – Next Avenue, 4 December 2020
4 ways to overcome issues affecting senior women physicians (USA)
Women physicians often face professional isolation, impact of family responsibilities, and gender and age discrimination throughout their careers. These challenges faced by women physicians don’t disappear with age either and have only been exacerbated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. But there are measures to take to overcome issues affecting senior women physicians. – American Medical Association, 4 December 2020
Older Americans face age-related employment challenges amid pandemic
Employed Americans 55 and older have experienced a relatively high level of job security compared with their younger counterparts since the start of the pandemic. But experts say that older adults who’ve lost their jobs may find themselves struggling to find another position due to their physical vulnerabilities, age and perceived lack of technological savvy. – The Hill, 2 December 2020