Speaking at Friends of Europe’s European Policy Summit entitled ‘Europe’s Looming Demographic Crunch – The Search for new Labour and Welfare Policies’ on 31 January 2008, Commissioner Joaquín Almunia insisted that ageing was a good news story. He wanted all EU citizens to enjoy the benefits of longer lives, and he wanted those lives to be spent in good health.
Therein lay the problem, as the EU’s demographic crunch will be felt dramatically in the years to come. By 2050, 30% of the population will be over 65; the citizens’ longer lives will be placing a heavier burden on society, in terms of higher pension costs and an increasing need for healthcare, and that will be coupled with the EU’s lower fertility rates. The result: only two people of working age for each pensioner.
During the fast-flowing series of debates, many options for resolving the demographic challenge were examined. The OECD’s Deputy Secretary General Art de Geus produced figures that demonstrated a strong correlation between fertility rates and the number of working mothers – more women in the workplace, more births. This contradicted the general belief that more working women would lead to a drop in the fertility rates. Certainly, women would appear to be major part of the solution, as many speakers saw them as an untapped resource. Belgian MP Bruno Tobback had a warning though, as he reminded the conference that having children cost money; so higher birth rates could lead to one generation having to pay for three, as it would have children and older relatives to care for over a long period of time.
The European Commission’s Director General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Nikolaus van der Pas saw a “massive challenge” ahead if the EU was to keep its competitiveness, and he outlined the Commission’s desire for a “new relationship between employers and workers”, via the recent Flexicurity proposal. The ETUC’s Confederal Secretary Catelene Passchier was not convinced. She wanted the unions – “that represent people” – to be more involved in the process of redesigning Europe’s labour markets. Currently, Passchier did not see that the Commission’s “flexicurity” message would make the EU’s citizens face a difficult future with confidence.
Taking a different tack, Eurociett’s President Annemarie Muntz felt that ‘flexicurity’, as practiced in the Netherlands and Scandinavia, could play a major role in improving the EU’s economic situation. Due to the demographics, she saw the need to bring many more people into the labour market. That would mean, for instance, more jobs for women, retraining of the unemployed, a reduction in the skills mismatch and the need for greater mobility.
The Adecco Institute’s Chairman Wolfgang Clement preferred to highlight the role of business. Adecco’s recent survey of 2,500 companies had showed that the vast majority were not planning beyond 2009. He wanted a change of mentality in both employers and employees. People needed be shown a reason why working longer made sense. Education and lifelong learning had roles to play, as Clement saw the emerging economies, the EU’s future competitors, spending much more in that sector.
At the end of the one-day summit the résumé was that solving the demographic challenge would not be easy, as decisions must be taken today that will have an impact on generations to come.
The European Policy Summit was organised by Friends of Europe in partnership with Swiss Life and Gallup
with the support of Adecco, the European Confederation of Private Employment Agencies (Eurociett) and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EUROFOUND)
with media partners Europe’s World and EurActiv.com