Labor Market, employment strategy

As the populations age, the need for governments to encourage the employers to hire individuals aged 55 and above becomes crucial.


Public Policies and Protection Programs – Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia

Apart from increasing the statutory retirement age, the governments of the Czech Republic and Slovakia adopted programs that increase opportunities for older people to have longer working lives and meet the EU’s goal of the employment rate of 50% among individuals aged 55-59.

The Czech Republic

In order to increase labor force participation of older adults, the Czech Republic introduced a reform of the pension system and implemented government projects aimed at the age group of individuals 55-59. One of the most important changes are adjustments in the tax system. The “National Strategy of Promoting the Active Growing Old for the years 2013-2017” developed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs assumes the introduction of taxation of the national pension unless the taxpayer earns money at the same time (Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic, 2014). On the other hand, the unemployed pensioners would not have to pay the tax from the pension. In this case, it is worthier to postpone the retirement until the termination of the gainful employment.

The Czech Republic also initiated other projects aiming at professional activation of

older adults. In the “National Strategy of Promoting the Active Growing Old for the years 2013-2017,” the government proposed actions promoting the implementation of age management by the

employers. The government also considers introducing the financial encouragements for the companies taking part in the promotion campaign of using the flexible forms of work adjusted to the employees’ needs. One of the offered strategic aims is to propose the unemployed of 50+ years of age to start their own businesses and provide them with necessary support (Grotkowska, 2013).

Poland

In 2008, the government introduced the program “Solidarity Across Generations” which aims at increasing incentives for companies to employ individuals aged 50 and above and promotes access to employment during the whole period of working life (Marczewski, 2013). Other initiatives include the protection period for employees in the pre-retirement age—since 2004 the employer cannot terminate the employment contract of the employer who lacks no more than four years to reach the retirement age if the period of employment allows him to gain the right to retire with reaching this age. Protected are women of 56-60 years of age and men of 61-65 years of age. Before 2004, the protection period was two years. Another action taken to increase the employment rates is the exemption from paying a contribution. Since 2009 there is a possibility of a temporary and permanent exemption of the employers from paying the contributions to the Labour Fund and the Guaranteed Employment Benefits Fund for the people of the pre-retirement age.

The employers do not pay those contributions in two cases: a) for the first 12 months after concluding an

employment contract with a person who is over 50 years of age and a person who was registered in the unemployed database in the district labor office for at least 30 days prior to working, and b) indefinitely in case of people over 55 years of age for women and at least 60 years of age for men.

Slovakia

A number of measures to enhance employment have been introduced in order to decrease high unemployment rates in

Slovakia. The National Program for Active Ageing for the years 2014-2020 in Slovakia, as well as similar programs in the Czech Republic and Poland, provides a comprehensive understanding of the support of older adults (Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of Slovakia, 2014). The program goes beyond employment policy, focusing on the rights of older adults, support policies, lifelong learning, and social and civic outside of the formal labor market,

promoting their independence, dignity, economic security, and social development, including protection against mistreatment in all spheres of social life. The program ensures the right to employment of individuals aged 50 and more and introduces antidiscrimination policies because of their age.

In addition, the National Program draws attention to the low awareness of agemanagement for not recognizing the benefits of employing older people. Among the strategic objectives in this area is, among others, to create the Committee (Council) responsible for older

adults. The committee serves as an advisory body of the Slovak government. The purpose of this committee would be to adjust public policies related to ageing, in particular: a) to define the concept of age-management and the establishment of management rules in the private and public sectors and b) motivating employers (public and private sector) to use age management strategies, to promote the employment of older workers, and to motivate workers to remain in the labor market.

The implemented program emphasizes the necessity of special support of individuals aged

and above, who remain disadvantaged in the labor market. This can be done by, for example, helping older adults in finding a job. Attention should also be given to the need of improving the safety of older workers in the workplace, with an emphasis on creating appropriate working conditions.(Lszko, Bugajska, 2017)

EU level

Since the turn of the millennium, the European Union has been involved in strategies concerning the ageing workforce. Since the Luxembourg Jobs Summit in November 1997, with the launch of the first European Employment Strategy (EES) and the introduction of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), concepts such as employability, combatting unemployment and providing equal opportunities have been enshrined in the European strategy.

However, the issue of older workers was specifically addressed only from the Lisbon Strategy, encompassing the period 2000-2010. The Lisbon strategy was meant to be a response to the challenges of globalisation and ageing, with the objective for the EU “to become the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010 capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion and respect for the environment”. The Strategy was compounded by two targets specifically referring to older workers: the Stockholm target and the Barcelona target. The former, defined after the Stockholm European Council in 2001, agreed to “set a EU target for increasing the average EU employment rate among older women and men (55-64) to 50% by 2010”. The latter, an outcome of the Barcelona European Council of 2002, established that “a progressive increase of about 5 years in the effective average age at which people stop working in the European Union should be sought by 2010” (Commission of the European Communities 2003). In 2005, the Lisbon Strategy was re-launched with a focus on growth and jobs, following an overly complex development of the Strategy’s structure (PAWEU,European Commission, 2010).

An important legacy of the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations is the joint preparation by the Employment Committee and the Social Protection Committee of a list of guiding principles to promote active ageing among the EU Member states. These principles were endorsed the EU Council in its 2012 Declaration on the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations: The Way Forward. The following table presents these principles, which are still relevant today.

Continuing vocational education and training Offer women and men of all ages access to, and participation in, education, training and skills development allowing them (re-)entry into and to fully participate in the labour market in quality jobs.
Healthy working conditions Promote working conditions and work environments that maintain workers’ health and well-being, thereby ensuring workers’ life-long employability.
Age management strategies Adapt careers and working conditions to the changing needs of workers as they age, thereby avoiding early retirement.
Employment services for older workers Provide counselling, placement, reintegration support to older workers who wish to remain on the labour market.
Prevent age discrimination Ensure equal rights for older workers in the labour market, refraining from using age as a decisive criterion for assessing whether a worker is fit for a certain job or not; prevent negative age-related stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes towards older workers at the work place; highlight the contribution older workers make.
Employment-friendly tax / benefit systems Review tax and benefit systems to ensure that work pays for older workers, while ensuring an adequate level of benefits.
Transfer of experience Capitalise on older workers’ knowledge and skills through mentoring and age-diverse teams.
Reconciliation of work and care Adapt working conditions and offer leave arrangements suitable for women and men, allowing them as informal carers to remain in employment or return to the labour market.