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Subsidies for hiring older workers
NickOttens
Posts: 899 admin
As @JessicaYoon mentioned under Obstacles to Long Life, one of the challenges is a bias against older people in the workforce and people being more or less forced into retirement as early as in their 50s.
One solution could be subsidies for hiring older workers.
Unemployment in the 55-64 age group in Sweden rose sharply following the financial crisis. A scheme called the New-Start program was introduced in January 2007. It involves making payments to employers to encourage them to recruit people who had been unemployed for a long time.
Since 2010, the fee to an employer for hiring an unemployed person aged 55 and over has been paid for up to a maximum of ten years — twice the standard period of time. The fee being paid for an extended period of time has coincided with a drop in the unemployment rate for the 55-64 age group.
Is this the best approach to retain older people in the workforce? Would it work in other countries? Are there alternatives?
Vox has an interesting story on this, "New research suggests an aging workforce is holding back economic growth"
One solution could be subsidies for hiring older workers.
Unemployment in the 55-64 age group in Sweden rose sharply following the financial crisis. A scheme called the New-Start program was introduced in January 2007. It involves making payments to employers to encourage them to recruit people who had been unemployed for a long time.
Since 2010, the fee to an employer for hiring an unemployed person aged 55 and over has been paid for up to a maximum of ten years — twice the standard period of time. The fee being paid for an extended period of time has coincided with a drop in the unemployment rate for the 55-64 age group.
Is this the best approach to retain older people in the workforce? Would it work in other countries? Are there alternatives?
Vox has an interesting story on this, "New research suggests an aging workforce is holding back economic growth"
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Comments
Not sure if hiring subsidies would become a popular idea in the U.S., but I do know that organizations like the AARP argue for expanding earned income tax credits to the elderly, which can help with incentivizing older workers to stay in the workforce longer (see https://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/i20_eitc.pdf).
@Ramsey, @karen, @Alex9933, @Living100, could you tell us more about the proposal? Specifically, to bring it to the discussion on longevity, would it help people live a longer and healthier life?
Do we really need old people to contribute "knowlege, skills and wisdom", though, in a time when it seems like the most important trait is being able to move quickly forward and use the most novel technologies?