G8 Governmental conference on Active
Ageing held in Japan
Staged as a contribution to the UN Year of older people, a G8
Governmental Conference and a symposium on active ageing were held in Japan
from 20- 22 September. The purpose was to develop further the policy implications
of the concept of active ageing, a term which refers to the idea of remaining
active as we age by working longer, retiring later, engaging in voluntary
work after retirement and practicing healthy ageing life styles. In the G8
context active ageing was introduced at the Denver summit in June 1997 as
an umbrella title for a range of adjustments allowing us to accommodate better
the challenges from ageing. Later on the concept was confirmed as a potentially
important countermeasure to rising dependency burdens at the Kobe Jobs Conference
in November 1997 and at the last G8 summit in Cologne.
Speaking on behalf of the European Commission, Gabrielle Clotuche of the Directorate-General for Employment and social affairs, said that problems in our present employment performance as well as the ageing challenge compels Europe to greatly expand the activity and employment rates of workers 55+.
European active ageing policy will therefore aim at retention of older workers, reinforcement of their position on the labour market, and reintegration for those currently left out. Two factors will support this: Firstly, the drop in supply of young and middle-aged workers: employers will simply have to look to older workers. Secondly, the European Employment Strategy - a powerful tool guiding EU government policies and social partner practices which works in synergy with EU macroeconomic policies. In the recently adopted proposal for guidelines and recommendations to Member States specific attention is given to the need for removing disincentives and barriers to working longer in tax-benefit systems and to measures which improve the employability of older workers.
Partipants presented active ageing policies already in place or under way in G8 Member States and discussed barriers and possibilities for taking the active ageing agenda further. The recently adopted communication of the European Commission "Towards a Europe for all ages" (PDF) was one of the policy strategies presented. The activity and employment rates of workers 55+ in Europe are substantially lower than in the USA, Japan and Canada.
