SHAPING THE FUTURE HOW CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS CAN POWER HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

cupy space in some public buildings have little
meaning if the buildings lack elevators.
REMAINING ENGAGED
Many older people remain in the workforce,
earn incomes, vote and pay taxes. They also
volunteer, and in fact, many organizations would
be difficult to run without their older volunteers.
83 Self-employment is the dominant form
of their work, commonly at rates of 90 percent
and higher in rural areas of East Asia and the
Pacific. Older people of 65 and above in East
and South-east Asia tend to continue working
long hours, particularly in rural areas. In some
countries, older men work on average 40 hours
or more a week, and women work 30 to 45 hours
a week. 84 Women also play critical role within
households, such as caring for children. One
study found that grandparents in rural China
provide care to 19 million children whose parents
have migrated to cities. 85
As people age, they leave the workforce, but in
some cases, they exit at rates that may be higher
than ideal. The labour force participation of
older people has increased in some Asia-Pacific
countries between 1990 and 2013 (Figure 4.15);
others have seen a decline. For the region as a
whole, the rate is low compared to other developing
regions—among people aged 65 and above,
it is only 34 percent for men and 11 percent
for women. This compares with 53 percent of
men and 28 percent of women in Africa and
47 percent of men and 19 percent of women
in Latin America and the Caribbean. 86 And
while Asia-Pacific’s labour force participation
rate among older people is projected to decline,
the rate will likely rise in Latin America and
the Caribbean and North America until 2020.
Institutional, legal, social and technical
barriers that constrict work force participation
for older people in Asia-Pacific include a
legal age requirement for retirement, a lack of
familiarity with modern technology, limited
FIGURE 4.15:
Labour force participation rates are low among older people in Asia-Pacific countries
A variety of barriers
constricting work
force participation
for older people need
to be removed
Source: ILO 2014a.
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