other ageing studies
Working longer: Policy reforms and Practice innovations
Chief Investigator: Prof John Piggott
Administering Institution: University of New South Wales
A popular response to increased longevity is to suggest that older workers should work longer. But working longer involves changes to established policies, practices, and institutions, which are currently built around retiring earlier.
The project will forecast demographic and health transition in Australia and develop capacity to analyze the likely economic and workplace adjustments that population ageing will generate. It will examine the extent to which “working longer” is an appropriate response to this transition, and analyze how the labour market for older workers might evolve, taking account of individual circumstances (health, financial status, dependant care) and institutional practices (age discrimination, employment conditions, work organization), as well as regulatory and policy impacts.
The overall objective of the program is to develop a multi-disciplinary knowledge base to inform integrated policy and institutional (or practice) improvement in the labour market for the elderly. Its contribution will be to improve the institutional and policy framework within which households and firms operate, with the aim of modifying workplace practices and policy and institutional constraints to encourage a more vibrant labour market for older workers. Specifically the program of research will:
- Assess the demographic and economic impacts of working longer under alternative policy and institutional (practice) scenarios
- Provide alternative pension, superannuation, finance and taxation designs to encourage labour force participation of older people
- Identify employment strategies to enhance the health and safety of older workers
- Develop strategies to facilitate workforce re-entry of older workers, including gender-specific considerations
- Provide an integrated set of recommendations to create policy and practice partnerships which facilitate a labour market conducive to increased mature-age participation.
This project is funded by an ARC/NHMRC Ageing Well, Ageing Productively Strategic Award.
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