Older workers in Australia: The myths, the realities and the battle over workforce ‘flexibility’

Abstract

A decisive 2004 fourth term win for the Howard Government and control over the Senate provided the Australian government with a mandate to further deregulate the labour market in the name of ‘flexibility’. This paper uses a critical perspective to challenge the wisdom of neo-liberal market economics as the driving force behind the rapid expansion of non-traditional ‘flexible’ forms of work and the persistence of a deficit model/perspective that continues to devalue the human capital value of older workers. It is argued that these trends will contribute to ongoing under utilisation of ‘older’ labour and intensification of skill shortages, in part, as a result of lack of investment in maintaining human capital. In responding to Australia's rapidly ageing workforce the Howard Government has adopted modest measures designed to counter age based discrimination and encourage workforce participation. However, participation rates among older workers in Australia have remained one of the lowest among Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries. This paper argues that the Government's labour market deregulation policies are reducing the availability of jobs that provide sufficient working conditions and remuneration to make workforce participation attractive. The erosion of employment conditions associated with ‘flexible’ workforce reform leads to underemployment, an employment outcome that often fails to meet the needs of many older workers. More recently, however, the Government has embarked on reforms that appear to provide genuine incentives aimed specifically at attracting workforce participation by older workers, but unfortunately these are by and large confined to those aged 60 years and over.

In the name of meritocracy: managers' perceptions of policies and practices for training older workers

“…Here, underemployment arises and, importantly, employers are not fully utilising older workers' skills (Barnett, Spoehr and Parnis 2008), thereby limiting their employability. Further, growing numbers of workers are falling into new kinds of non-standard work arrangements outside linear career paths in the same organisation or profession (Kossen and Pedersen 2008). Consequently, older workers' efforts to secure employability are becoming more complex and perilous, all of which suggests fresh understandings by government and employers are required as they respond to demographic changes and trends in labour force participation (Hardill 2009).…”

“…Given the increasing diversity of workforces, the challenge here is to overcome the impact of cultural biases, or stereotyping, in the planning and decision-making processes of an organisation. Gringart, Helmes and Speelman (2005: 96) found that a sample of 128 ‘hiring decision-makers’ in businesses of up to 50 employees were generally ‘unlikely to hire older workers' because among other things, those workers ‘were viewed as being less adaptable to new technology, less interested in technological change and less trainable, as well as being less ambitious, less energetic, less healthy, less creative and not as physically strong.’ A review by Kossen and Pedersen (2008: 81) concluded that ‘despite a large body of evidence on the productive value of older workers, and effort spent on promoting their worth … that many employers have remained reluctant to employ these workers'. Further, in a study involving almost 100 managers of Australian companies, Partridge (quoted in University of Wollongong 2009) concluded, ‘that older men and women are less likely to be employed, promoted, or trained due to negative stereotypes associated with their age’.…”

Older job seekers' job search intensity: the interplay of proactive personality, age and occupational future time perspective

“…These laws to protect older people's rights are important, as workforce participation rates of older people have been steadily rising in Australia and other OECD countries in recent years (Commonwealth of Australia 2010; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2006). 3 Despite these improvements, however, many older unemployed people still struggle to find a new job (Heidkamp, Corre and Van Horn 2010; Kossen and Pedersen 2008; Patrickson and Ranzijn 2004). The result of such negative employment prospects may be a withdrawal into early retirement with a relatively low retirement income (Wuebbeke 2011).…”

Managing older workers during a period of tight labour supply

“…Managers may be recruiting older workers for roles for which training is considered unnecessary, or at least for ones that are not viewed as long term and for which investment in human capital is not considered worthwhile (Loretto and White 2006). This is rather more suggestive of a lack of a long-term commitment to older workers, with the potential for a precarious end to working life for some if a lack of human capital investment equates with a lack of quality employment opportunities (Kossen and Pedersen 2008), with inevitable difficulties in making a successful transition to retirement.…”