Increasing pension age not the answer
A proposal to increase workforce participation by lifting the pension age to 70 years has been rejected by lobby group National Seniors Australia. A Grattan Institute report entitled, Game-changers: Economic reform priorities for Australia, proposes major reforms to improve economic growth in Australia.
A proposal to increase workforce participation by lifting the pension age to 70 years has been rejected by lobby group National Seniors Australia.
A Grattan Institute report entitled, Game-changers: Economic reform priorities for Australia, proposes major reforms to improve economic growth in Australia.
One recommendation is to increase the pension age to 70 years. It is claimed this would increase total participation rates by 1.4% and lift economic growth by around $25 billion.
National Seniors Australia chief executive, Michael O’Neill, said while the proposal failed a basic ‘real world’ practicality test, he welcomed the underlying theme of better recognising the contribution older workers could make.
“Forget the theory and deal with the realities of today. Currently workers aged over 50 years are competing on an uneven playing field.
“Governments, employers and the community need to ensure that barriers such as age discrimination by employers, ageist attitudes, unfair workers’ compensation schemes, greater investment in currency of skills and flexible working conditions are fixed so mature age workers get a fair go,” Mr O’Neill said.
He added a 55-year-old who becomes unemployed faces an average 73 weeks out of work compared to a person in their 20s who would be out of work for 23 weeks.
“That’s what needs addressing now. Increasing the pension age is a distraction.
“Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that almost 40% of all discouraged job seekers, people who want to work but have given up looking, believe that employers consider them too old.”
However, parts of the report reportedly proved promising, according to O’Neill, who described the recognition of the potential contribution of older Australians to GDP as “important”.
“Older Australians have much to offer and it is encouraging to move away from stereotyping of population ageing as a liability and to recognise the opportunities that arise,” he said.
