In a bleak assessment of the country’s rapidly ageing population, some of the country’s regional centres are already facing a social security crisis, with 20 per cent of some regional communities currently reliant on the Age Pension.
With typically lower incomes and higher welfare dependency for regional Australians in the 55-64 years age bracket, the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) is calling on Government to help lift the workforce participation rate of older Australians and by doing so, help reduce the reliance on social security and boost local regional economies.
In its latest research – Ageing and work in regional Australia: Pathways for accelerating economic growth – RAI recommends that Government engage in more comprehensive regional trials of incentives and initiatives for older workers in Australia’s worst affected regions.
“High migration is temporarily keeping our cities young, but this won’t last,” said Regional Australia Institute chief executive officer, Jack Archer.
“We don’t yet know how to deal with the impacts of a really aged workforce. So, let’s test the options in the places already experiencing these issues, help them to make progress, and prepare Australia properly for the wider crisis of an ageing population that is coming nationally.”
Archer believes that enabling greater workforce participation amongst older Australians will take a mix of policies that aim to empower older workers to stay in their jobs for longer, as well as making it easier for those out of work to take advantage of new opportunities.
As part of its recommendations, RAI has called upon the Government to continue to investigate and implement policy packages that improve the employability of older workers, address barriers on the side of employers, and strengthen financial incentives to remain in the workforce. The RAI believes that Government initiatives, such as the recently announced Career Transition Assistance Program, which is part of the Government’s $110 million Mature Age Employment Package, and the Restart wage subsidy, were moves in the right direction to address this looming crisis.
The Age Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Kay Patterson, supported the call to engage more closely with older Australians and provide meaningful avenues in which to keep 55-64 year olds actively involved in paid employment.
“There are many older Australians who are willing and able to work, but who are often overlooked as candidates. It is important that society push back against discrimination, and allow older people a place in the national workforce, so they too can enjoy the dignity, purpose and independence that work brings,” Patterson said.
Archer is confident that the RAI’s research shows that if Government and employers can engage a higher proportion of older people in work, the result will be a significant lift to local incomes, economic growth and a lower Age Pension bill for the Government.
For more information on the research results, go to Ageing and work in regional Australia: Pathways for accelerating economic growth.
RAI is a not-for-profit organisation that is devoted to issues concerning regional Australia.
