Increasing participation among older workers has been saved
Analysis
Increasing participation among older workers
The grey army advances
Increasing mature age participation and employment has a range of benefits for the economy, the Government and, of course, for individual Australians with a desire to continue working.
Potential problems associated with an ageing population are well known. So too are the potential solutions – Australia needs to see a lift in its productivity growth and its participation rates.
In particular, mature age participation can play a key role in tipping the balance between the number of future retirees and the number of workers available to support them.
Commissioned by the Australian Human Rights Commission in July 2012 this report from Deloitte Access Economics examines the potential economic benefits from an increase in workforce participation among older Australians.
The numbers are big:
- An extra 3 percentage points on participation among workers aged 55 and over would result in a $33 billion boost to GDP – or around 1.6% of national income
- A 5 percentage point lift in participation among this group would see around $48 billion in extra GDP – or 2.4% of national income.