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Trends years to retire on a part-time basis, while receiving an allowance calculated on the basis of the level of unemployment benefits. The total number of recipients of a part-time pension in 2001 was 2,800 persons. In addition to the Voluntary Early Retirement Pay and inspired by the steep increase in Danish unemployment in the early 90s, a special scheme for long-term unemployed members of unemployment insurance schemes was introduced in 1992. This socalled Transitional Allowance (in Danish: “Overgangsydelse”) implied that long-term unemployed persons aged 55 to 59 could retire and receive a pension equal to unemployment benefits. In 1994 the age group was extended to 50-59 years of age, and the benefit paid was set at 82% of unemployment benefits. The scheme was extremely popular and in 1996 attracted a maximum of 46,000 participants. Entrance to the scheme was abolished in the same year and the scheme is now being phased out. In 2001 the total number of recipients was 20,400 persons. A major reform of the Voluntary Early Retirement Pay was introduced in 1999 (Arbejdsministeriet, 1998). The main aim was to reduce the inflow to the scheme. The eligibility criteria were tightened, making it necessary to have been a member of an unemployment insurance fund for at least 25 years within the last 30 years. A separate voluntary contribution to the scheme was introduced in addition to the normal contribution to cover basic unemployment insurance. A tax-free premium would be paid to those who postponed entering the scheme until two years after becoming eligible to do so. The deduction for other pension incomes was also changed. Increased flexibility was introduced with regard to working time, making it possible for the individual to retire on a part-time basis, where wage-income would be deducted from the allowance based on the actual number of hours worked. The intention was that the number of persons receiving the Retirement Allowance for members of unemployment insurance funds should be reduced. In 2001, a total of 158,700 persons received the allowance, of which 53% were women. As shown in Figure 1, the number of recipients has been growing over the years, but with a rather sharp rise in the growth rate during the mid-1990s. Since the reform in 1999, the number of participants has levelled out somewhat. Persons aged less than 65 years who are permanently unable to support themselves due to physical or mental handicaps, are eligible for an anticipatory pension. There are three pension levels. The two highest levels are for persons with obvious and serious health problems, while persons with lesser problems who have, nonetheless, been unable to support themselves for a longer period of time normally will receive the lowest level. In January of 2002, 172,800 persons received one of the two highest levels, while 86,800 persons received the lowest level of anticipatory pensions. The highest level amounted to an average of 10,300 DKK (1,380 euro) per month. (equal to about 83% of maximum unemployment benefits). Effective from 1 January, 2003, the anticipatory pension scheme has been reformed. The reform involved a much stronger focus on the capacity to work and employability of the applicants for pensions. Also the system for calculating the pension allowance has been simplified. A main target of the reform is to reduce the number of participants, again with an eye to demographic trends. For persons who are eligible for an anticipatory pension, but do not receive it, a special wage subsidy (“flexijobs”) is available. The subsidy is paid to the employer and amounts to between one third and two thirds of normal wages. For persons who actually receive anticipatory pension, a subsidy (for “protected” jobs) can be paid to the employer (Arbejdsministeriet og Socialministeriet, 1997). The subsidy is, at maximum, half of the wage cost. Employment in protected jobs is normally part-time. The number of these two types of jobs in 2002 was about 24,000, whereof 18,000 persons were employed in “protected jobs”. Table 3: The number of full-time persons receiving various forms of pensions, 1990 to 2000 1990 1995 2000 Old-age pension Unemployment retirement 700 1,000 full-time persons 713 704 benefit etc.( 1 ) 101 140 180 Anticipatory pension 250 273 263 Total employment 2606 2539 2705 Note: (1) Includes transitional allowance and part-time pensions. Source: Statistics Denmark Table 3 shows the development in the total number of full-time persons receiving various forms of pensions from 1990 to 2000. Most impressive is the sharp increase in the number of recipients of the unemployment retirement benefit and the transitional allowance. 3.2 Training and lifelong learning for older workers The share of older workers with at least some form of upper secondary education was 72% in 2001, which was significantly higher than the EU-average of 48%. On the other hand, the majority of older workers are less educated than the younger generations, although the gap is closing. One barrier to hiring middle-aged or older workers is the assumption that they are less motivated to engage in further training or lifelong learning. To some extent this assumption can be based on the actual participation patterns of the older workers. Denmark has a longstanding tradition of adult education. Thus more than 80% of firms offer training and education to their employees – against an EU average of about 60%. Furthermore, there are no formal barriers to older workers participating in further education and training, and firms maintain that the older workers receive the same offers as the rest of the staff (DA, 1997, p. 134). On the other hand, the labour force surveys report that the share of workers taking part in education and training during the four weeks prior to the survey is significantly lower for older workers. In 2001, 17.8% of all workers took part in some form of further education. But only 8.4% of older workers aged 55-64 years did so. There is also a clear relationship with the previous educational attainments of the older workers: more workers with previous vocational education will continue to participate in adult education when they get older. In addition, the propensity to participate is higher among the employed than the unemployed. A major barrier for adult education for older workers therefore seems to be their weak educational background. Also, one could suspect that firms – in spite of the expressed attitudes – give a lower priority to further education for older workers, simply because the economic benefit will be smaller due to the shorter expected duration of their active working life. 70 Spring 2003 | European Employment Observatory Review
3.3 Labour market programmes for elderly unemployed In principle, older unemployed persons under 60 years of age have the same rights and obligations as other unemployed. Thus they have the right to unemployment benefits and to receive job training and other offers according to the active labour market policy. Insured unemployed persons above 60 years have the right to unemployment benefits for 30 months. However, as indicated by the introduction of the Voluntary Early Retirement Pay in 1979 and the transitional allowance in 1992, the main strategy towards these groups during the 1990s was to ease their way into early retirement, accepting that in reality the chances for older unemployed persons to regain employment are significantly smaller than for younger age groups. As a reaction to the lowering of general unemployment on the Danish labour market in recent years, the strategy towards the older unemployed is now undergoing a considerable change. The reform labelled “More People in Employment” introduced by the present government in 2002 and being implemented during 2004, is strongly focused at a more active approach to older unemployed and aims at abolishing all the exceptions to activation of this group, which have more or less formally been accepted previously. However, there are no special activation instruments developed for the older unemployed. The view is that the instruments applicable to other age groups can also be combined and tailored to fulfil the needs of the older unemployed (2005-udvalget, 1998, pp. 55-58). One should note that this is a general feature of Danish labour market policy and similar to the situation for ethnic minorities, who will also normally receive the same offers as other groups. This does not exclude the possibility that a certain project can be set up by the Regional Labour -Market Councils combining the available instruments (training, wage subsidies, etc.) to fit the needs of a particular target group. But this will be done on an ad hoc basis, not as a permanent programme. As described in the next section, a number of special financial instruments can support such initiatives. 3.4 Special initiatives with respect to “senior policy” As joint ventures between the Ministry of Employment and the Ministry of Social Affairs, a number of activities and campaigns have been launched in recent years in order to stimulate the employment of persons with various forms of handicaps as far as their employability is concerned (Arbejdsministeriet og Socialministeriet, 1997). This development has been supported by the social partners. In the collective agreements made since 1995, socalled “social chapters” have been included in most agreements, implying that almost 90% of wage earners are covered. These chapters recommend employment on special conditions (working time, wages, etc.) for persons with handicaps, including older workers. Under the heading of “senior policy”, a number of special initiatives by the Ministry of Employment are aimed at achieving a better integration of older workers on the labour market. These initiatives include: • a special fund of 23 mio. DKK (2.8 mio. euro) has been allocated to initiatives that support the integration of unemployed older workers. It may be in the form of influencing the hiring practices of firms, highlighting the qualifications of senior employees or general information campaigns disseminating examples of best practices; • the offer of five hours of free consultancy services to all Spring 2003 | European Employment Observatory Review 71 Trends employers. The consultants may come from public or private institutions and give firms advice with respect to developing a “senior policy”, human resource development for older employees and the creation of networks with other employers; • financial assistance is given for the self-activation of unemployed workers above 50 years of age in their creation of networks and activities to develop new areas of employment. Such networks, based on self-activation, are now in operation all over Denmark. Examples of concrete activities supported through the initiatives are: • a project by a large retail chain to open a supermarket staffed solely with persons aged 45 and above; • a project by a private manufacturing company aimed at setting up individual programmes for training and education for all employees aged 50 and over; • activities at a public hospital setting up special seminars for senior employees to create discussions and awareness of possibilities for remaining in the labour market; • a manufacturer of kitchen utensils screening all work processes to adapt them to senior workers wherever possible. 4. Evaluation One of the most important changes with respect to the situation of older workers on the labour market has been the reform of 1999 of the Voluntary Early Retirement Pay. There has been no comprehensive evaluation made of the reform, but the available evidence based on the inflow to the scheme indicates that the new economic incentives have had some impact in diminishing the number of persons leaving the labour market at the age of 60. However, the fact that the number of recipients of retirement pay is still increasing, gives rise to some political concern and a continuous debate about the need for further reforms. At company level, initiatives to integrate older workers have been functioning for several years now. A wide range of evaluations have been made. In 1997 The Danish National Institute of Social Research conducted a special survey concerning the social responsibility of firms (Holt, 1998). One outcome is that 61% of the firms having employees aged over 60 have given these employees some form of special offer including the possibility of part-time work (50%), a change of job within the company (29%) and benefits in relation to retirement (20%). A number of the initiatives supported by the Ministry of Employment have also been evaluated. Information about the result can be found at the homepage of the Ministry of Employment (www.bm.dk/seniorpolitik, in Danish only). Some of the most important observations involve identifying a wide range of senior policies at company level. In some firms a very detailed and specific senior policy can be observed, while others tend to use senior policy as a broader framework, which mainly mirrors the global values of the firm and allows for a high level of flexibility in implementation. Other firms consider senior policy to be just one element in a broader set of policies, each directed at different phases in the lifecycle of their employees. Finally, the evaluations demonstrate the important links between senior policy and other policies at the firm level, such as HRD, and policies for the hiring and promotion of employees.
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Employment & European Social Fund E
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European Employment Observatory Rev
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Table of Contents Policies Overall
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AUSTRIA The programme of the Austri
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FINLAND Essential changes to legisl
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At least one quarter of the members
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in the event of a third and subsequ
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of active labour-market policy, as
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Training Networks Programme The Tra
Page 19 and 20: Subsequently, the provisions concer
Page 21 and 22: a strengthening and revitalisation
Page 23 and 24: workers into the labour market as w
Page 25 and 26: This reinforced targeting and resul
Page 27 and 28: BELGIUM The Occupational Immersion
Page 29 and 30: Agreement on converting 10,000 subs
Page 31 and 32: outplacement procedure, its duratio
Page 33 and 34: Integration agreements Another impo
Page 35 and 36: and local job and volunteering oppo
Page 37 and 38: FINLAND Preliminary information on
Page 39 and 40: BELGIUM Harmonisation and simplific
Page 41 and 42: • Returning migrants Eligibility
Page 43 and 44: Playing the generation game: an ove
Page 45 and 46: workers, who have either exited the
Page 47 and 48: e) Finland’s comprehensive approa
Page 49 and 50: Compared with the figures for 1997,
Page 51 and 52: Table 4: Activity quotas by age and
Page 53 and 54: Table 6: Length of unemployment by
Page 55 and 56: 4Prospects In view of the demograph
Page 57 and 58: and is exempted from the obligation
Page 59 and 60: The Government is also addressing t
Page 61 and 62: permanente, 97-124 Desmet, R. and J
Page 63 and 64: Table 4: Breakdown by age of older
Page 65 and 66: Figure 1: Gender gap in the activit
Page 67 and 68: Figure 5: Effective and statutory r
Page 69: 3. Recent trends in policies As alr
Page 73 and 74: Figure 1: Population aged 15 and ov
Page 75 and 76: Table 3: Labour market transition r
Page 77 and 78: companies. One of these projects wa
Page 79 and 80: Table 2: Projection of the economic
Page 81 and 82: Table 8: Numbers entering Early Ret
Page 83 and 84: Figure 1: Rate of access to trainin
Page 85 and 86: Germany 1 Introduction As far back
Page 87 and 88: Figure 3: Potentially economically
Page 89 and 90: Figure 5: Take-up of early-retireme
Page 91 and 92: Figure 8: Average amounts paid unde
Page 93 and 94: 64.5% (Hain/Tautz 2001: 365) withou
Page 95 and 96: Table 6: Collectively agreed workin
Page 97 and 98: Strukturbruch und Arbeitsmark-tentw
Page 99 and 100: men (Figure 3). In clear contrast w
Page 101 and 102: Figure 5: Unemployment rates, males
Page 103 and 104: More recent data, provided by Euros
Page 105 and 106: pensions retracted to normal levels
Page 107 and 108: Ireland 1. Introduction This Paper
Page 109 and 110: Table 3: Labour force trends, 1991-
Page 111 and 112: Table 4: Employment by age across s
Page 113 and 114: Occupational pensions There are als
Page 115 and 116: Italy 1. Introduction The EU offici
Page 117 and 118: Table 7: Activity rates (age 55-64)
Page 119 and 120: Table 10: Forecasts of employment r
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should take the territorial imbalan
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2. Statistical Data 5 Number of pen
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4.2 Measures to encourage older wor
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6. Conclusions With regard to keepi
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level. No taxes and social premiums
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edundancy scheme by employers. The
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uittreding: early retirement) schem
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Figure 4: Dependency and ageing ind
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Figure 8: Percentage of working age
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Figure 11: Average age of workers l
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Figure 2: percentage change between
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Figure 4: Figure 5: 25 20 15 10 0 -
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100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Figu
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However, this measure does not cove
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Table 1(a): Employment rate, men, 5
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Figure 3(b): Main Source of income
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4. Policies to stimulate active age
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Appendix Table A1(a): Participation
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Venta • Salg • Verkauf • Pvl
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