The Effects of Employment of the Health and Quality of Life of the Elderly

Nordic conference at Hilton Reykjavík Nordica Hotel in Iceland Monday the 9th of November 2009

The Nordic conference The Effects of Employment on the Health and Quality of Life of the Elderly was held in Hilton Hotel Nordica in Reykjavik, Iceland, November 9th 2009. The conference was held by Icelandic authorities, the Ministry of Social Affairs, supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers during Iceland’s precedency in 2009. Participants were around 100. Representatives from all the Nordic countries attended the conference.

 

Invitation letter (click here)
Programme (click here)
Programme information (click here)
Report (click here)

 

 

In his welcoming speech Minister of Social Affairs and Social Security, Árni Páll Árnason, talked about the importance of the seniors’ experience in the labour market.

 

 

 

 

Getting older in a New Era

Bernharður Guðmundsson, vice president of the National Council on Aging, talked about aging in a new era. He pointed out that the fast changes in society have given better health, better education and bigger experience to seniors compared to what their parents had. Seniors are more active today than ever before, both privately and in the labour market. The attitudes of society towards seniors have not changed in the same rate. Many seniors talk about discrimination and tell stories about how they are treated with lack of respect for their experience and competence. Courses and other education have been found lacking by seniors. Seniors want to get more education and competence but the courses are not suitable for them. Guðmundsson criticizes journalists. He says that the media focus on young people. Suddenly the seniors discover that they don’t have the same choice as they had before. Guðmundsson thinks that choice will be the key word in the future. (audio)

 

 

The Active Icelanders: How and Why the Elderly in Iceland Retire So Late

Professor Stefán Ólafsson at the University of Iceland; When looking at the OECD statistics Iceland has the biggest elderly activity in the labour market. This means that seniors work more and start getting pensions later than in other OECD countries. Only three nations start getting pensions later than Iceland. Those countries are Mexico, Korea and Japan. Seniors in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway start getting pensions earlier than in Iceland, only people in Faroe Island get pensions later. Professor Stefán Ólafsson says that the factors behind the late pensions of Icelanders is that Icelanders value work very high and the labour market has been needing elderly working force in the last years. People need more money because they think that the pensions are not high enough. Ólafsson says that the pension system itself in Iceland encourages people to keep on working because the pensions will be higher. The elderly have a possibility and a need for activities and participation in the society in Iceland. (slides), (recording), (audio)

 

The Aging Process from a Quality of Life Perspective

Ingalill Rahm Hallberg, Director of the Swedish Institute for Health Science, says that people live longer and has better health because the life style is healthier, the medicines are better and the doctors have better knowledges than ever before. This makes it possible to live longer, even if you have cronic sicknesses. Money, materialistic welfare, social activity and knowledge can make you live longer. Materialistic welfare of seniors is one of the biggest reasons for the good quality of life later in your life. Better health makes it possible for the labour market to use the working capacity of the elderly. The elderly will become too big as a group for the welfare system. The seniors have to become active again in the labour market. A big part of them wants to keep on working. Rahm Hallberg says that the society has to do something about the myths that seniors’ working capacity is worse than the young people’s. Flexibility in the labour market is necessary if you want to use the elderly as a labour force. The voluntary work of the seniors has to be taken into account in the statistics so that the society is aware of the valuable work of the seniors. (slides) (audio)

 

Health Promotion and Maintenance of Work Ability – National and Local Opportunities in Ensuring Employability of Aging Workforce

Professor Matti Ylikoski, Ph.D., Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, told the conference that the employed are getting older all the time and will be the biggest group in the labour market in Finland, Germany and Belgium in the next years. The same time there will be a lack of young people in the labour market. The welfare system has to take on bigger groups that are not active in the labor market while the need for qualified working force is getting bigger. This is why it is important to focus on better health of the employed. Ylikoski presented a research which shows that it is important to minimize the work burden and stress and make the tasks more demanding at work. This is how the seniors will stay pleased in the working places and keep them interested in staying in the labour market even though the can stop working and start getting pensions because of their age. Finland has developed a special policy with the purpose of better health in the working places. This policy counteracts early pensions and high frequency of working incapacity. The goal is to make the environment at the working place good and support the individuals so that they are feeling good at work,with no stress and only the right amount of tasks. This way the employed will stay interested in their jobs and keep on producing. If they are not feeling good, if they get sick, lose their jobs or get benefits of some kind for a certain amount of time they can return back to the labour market. Finland wants to increase flexibility in the labour market.
During the crisis in Finland in the beginning of the 1990s the IT saved Finland. Finland lost 100.000 individuals from the labour market during the crisis but they could have been active in the labour market if things had been handled differently. This is not to happen again. Finland wants to get out of the crisis taking care of the health of the employed. This policy is very important. The main focus is on seniors.
(slides) (recording) (audio)

 

The Role of Elderly Labour-market participation in a World of Scarcity

Assistant Professor of Economics and Director of Graduate Studies in Health Economics, Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir, points out that the employed are living longer at the same times as the are getting their pensions earlier in life. The welfare system needs more people to be active in the labour market to be able to keep up the same level of welfare service as before. This is a problem in many countries. One of the solutions can be more senior activity in the labour market. Ásgeirsdóttir focuses on how the elderly as a group can have effects on the labour market and younger generations in the future. Ásgeirsdóttir thinks that seniors will produce more during their career than they do now. She thinks that the seniors will earn as much money during their career as now but that it will take them longer time to earn the same amount of money because they will be active in the labour market during longer time than before. (slides) (recording) (audio)

 

Discussions. Monitor: TV-reporter Þóra Ásgeirsdóttir.

The Finnish policy is interesting, according to Professor Ólafsson. He thinks Iceland should take the Finnish policy into account because Finland has great experience in dealing with problems during economic crises. Ásgeirsdóttir is of same opinion. She points out that it could be easier to solve problems in Iceland than in many other countries because the Icelandic economy is so small and the flexibility so great. Ylikoski says that the Finnish policy has given positive results. The employed are willing to co-operate even though they were negative towards the policy in the beginning. He says that the Finns have to use all the possibilities they have and activate all the working force they have. Finland could get problems with OECD because Finland is working towards increased flexibility in the labour market while OECD is going towards less flexibility. Guðmundsson points out that the Icelandic families have been too busy in all kinds of activities during the last years. Now the families get more time to spend together. The crisis has given the seniors a new chance to get to know the youngest ones in the families. This is positive, he says.

Do the Pension Systems encourage the Elderly to be active in the Labour Market?

Kristinn Karlsson, statistic analyst at Statistics Iceland and a member at the Nordic Social-Statistical Committee (NOSOSCO), presented Nordic statistics. Karlsson gave a short review over two Nordic reports and answered the question if the pension systems encourages individuals aged 60-74 to work. Seniors get pensions relatively early in Finland, Sweden and Denmark while seniors in Iceland and especially the Faroe Islands get pensions later, according to Karlsson. Women start getting pensions earlier than men. Iceland and the Faroe Islands have developed in a different way than the other Nordic countries. In these two countries it is economically better for people with low salaries to keep on working. It is not common in the Nordic countries now-a-days that the elderly have jobs at the same time as they get pensions, especially in Iceland, Denmark and the Faroe Islands. If they have a job it usually is only a part-time job. In Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden the governments will probably change the law so that the seniors can keep on working for a longer time. (slides) (recording) (audio)

 

Employment of Elderly – Policy and Attitude from Employers Standpoint

Tor Bjarne Tofte from the Norwegian company Aker Stord says that Aker Solutions respects the individuals and their experience, values their work and thinks it important to keep the seniors active within the company for as long as possible. The company has a special senior policy to make it easier for the seniors to be active in the labour market as well as easing the change from activity in labour market to pensions. All employed, aged 62 or older, get for example ten extra vacation days every year. They can work 80% and get 20% pensions but they get paid for 90% work. They get special motivation interviews with the company leadership and they are a part of systematic competence change for seniors. The company has a co-operation with the university of Stavanger so that the seniors can get more education and knowledge. Aker Solutions has also a special policy for keeping and developing the competence of seniors. Young and senior people can teach each other many things. The goal is to make it desirable to work for Aker Solutions.
(slides) (recording) (audio)

 

Smart Experienced People – The Rock We Build on

Eggert B. Guðmundsson, CEO for the Icelandic company HB Grandi, has a big group of elderly personal who have worked decades for the company. He says that the knowledge in the fishing industry doesn’t change as fast as in many other industries. This is why the knowledge of the seniors is active for a longer time. They can be active and productive within HB Grandi during longer time than in many other companies. The knowledge and production of the seniors is higly valued at HB Grandi. (audio)

 

Older People, an Invaluable Resource in Society

Barbro Westerholm, Norden Public Health Prize Winner (folkhelseprizen), thinks that in the future seniors have to work more and for a longer time than they do today because otherwise it will not be possible for the Nordic countries to keep up the welfare system. In Sweden for example the elderly have to work until 79 years, according to a report from 2005. Another report says that the Swedish seniors have to work until they are aged 72 so that the Swedish state will be able to take care of all the elderly in year 2050. Westerholm thinks that in the future the Nordic countries have to open up the labour market for those who can and want to work in spite of their age. She says it is important for the seniors to get the feeling that they are needed and that they are a part of society. The labour market is important in this aspect. Discrimination because of age is a fact in many companies. This is something that we must fight. In the future the negative attitudes must be fought. The states have to open special work centra for seniors. She recommends opening up the possibilities of working for seniors and thinks that new laws are needed.
Westerholm also wants more research on elderly and their work. Westerholm is in favour of putting a price on the voluntary work of seniors and believes it necessary to include this in the official statistics of the Nordic countries so the governments and the people are aware of the importance of the elderly voluntary input to society. Work is always important. A research has shown that elderly think life is over when they cannot work any more. Westerholm cites a 12 year old boy:
“Why is it more valuable to be an old furniture than an old person?”
She thinks there is too much prejudice towards aging and elderly in society.
(slides) (recording) (audio)

 

Discussions. Monitor: TV-reporter Þóra Ásgeirsdóttir.

Why do women get pensions earlier than men? Nobody knows why but Karlsson says that women may change this if they get more information about how valuable it is to keep on working and how much money they personally would get if they kept on working. Westerholm recalled that during the 1990s the politicians knew that the states had to make changes to the pensions age to preserve the welfare system. She thinks that more changes are needed so that seniors can keep on working even though they are already 70. It is a misunderstanding, according to her, that everybody wants more free time. Karlsson points out that 30% of the Swedish pensioners want to keep on working. Tofte says that most of the employed in Norway want to keep on working even though they can already get pensions.