Population aging: facts, challenges, and responses

Population ageing does raise some fundamentally new challenges, but these changes also bring some new opportunities. This article explores some potentially useful responses from government and business to the challenges posed by ageing.

The paper demonstrates that population ageing generates challenges about the pace of future economic growth, and the operation and financial integrity of health care and pension systems. Yet, ageing implies that people have much more extended working years.

The authors deem that the “key” in this relevance is adaptation on all levels: individual, organisational, and societal.

Conclusions contain:

• moving from pay systems that are seniority-based to ones that are performance-based will invariably lead to a relaxation of corporate norms surrounding age at retirement
• in the same fashion, allowing people more freedom of choice regarding the timing of retirement is a good starting point for public policy reform
• in designing business organisations of the future, the private sector should anticipate, rather than passively await, the trend toward longer life-spans and older employees

As policy implications, the document underscores that there are several policy adjustment options to encourage extended working years. For example, allowing more part-time work and telecommuting will induce older workers to stay on, extending their careers by placing lighter burdens on their stamina. On the other hand, the document indicates that ongoing training will help older workers master new skills as the economy changes.