Older employees demand: Companies as a duty!

Older employees demand: Companies as a duty!

Vienna, AT - The debate about the employment of older people in Austria is increasingly gaining driving. Renate Anderl, President of the Chamber of Labor, asks companies to assume more responsibility when it comes to employment for people over 60 years. According to Anderl, there is a worrying trend in many companies to discriminate against older workers. In a survey of 25 companies with more than 20 employees, over 25% stated that no people over 60 years

At the moment, only every second person remains at work until retirement age. The rest leaves the labor market due to unemployment or retires from health insurance. In view of the challenges in the pension system, Anderl rejects a debate about a higher retirement age and instead calls for more employment for everyone.

Need for age -appropriate jobs

Anderl also criticizes that the existing collective contracts do not offer incentives for older employees and is in favor of creating age -appropriate jobs. In addition to the creation of suitable working conditions, she also sees the need to intensify further training for older employees. A proposal from Anderl is a bonus/painting system that would reward the company that will hire and promote older people. However, this system has not yet been part of the government program.

The situation is further tightened by the current statistics. The employment rate of 60 to 64-year-olds in Austria is currently only 22.8% for women and 45.6% for men, as can be seen from an analysis of the employment of older workers. A total of around 440,000 people in the 60-64 age group are not employed. The aim is to raise the employment rate in this age group to around 50% by 2030.

challenges in the pension system

The discussion about the financability of the public pension system in Austria shows that there are need for action at various points. Suggestions for raising the statutory retirement age to up to 70 years encounter resistance. Historical data show that the average retirement age has risen from 58.5 to 62.4 years since 2000 and from 56.8 to 60.4 years for women.

A significant problem, however, remains early retirement. Most older workers go directly to the pension in 2023 from working life. The proportion of older workers of employable age, especially the 55- to 64-year-olds, was 57.3% in Austria, which is rather low compared to an EU average of 60.5%. The main reasons for the lower employment participation of older people are early retirement age and the sometimes missing incentives for longer work.

Additional measures to promote older workers are urgently required. These include an improvement in rehabilitation and prevention offers, transparent monitoring approaches for older employment as well as a targeted reduction in non-wage costs for older employees. The unemployment rates for over 50s are currently being registered and are to be reduced, in particular by the integration allowance of the AMS.

Anderl also warns that austerity measures could endanger consumption and calls for new sources of income, such as inheritance and wealth taxes, to combat budget deficit. It also emphasizes the acute necessity of measures to reduce living costs, especially with regard to rising food prices that exert sustainable pressure on society.