COOPERATION. Professor Ingmar Skoog, manager for the research center AgeCap, is one of the experts in the government’s elderly delegation. The delegation will examine the conditions for older people’s participation in working life and propose measures that counteract age discrimination. Its proposals shall be presented in two years.
Ingmar Skoog believes that older people are an untapped resource in working life that needs to be used to a much greater extent.
“My involvement in the delegation shows that AgeCap’s multidisciplinary research is noted. It is also important that researchers participate in such a delegation.”
The government and the Pension Group want to see a more inclusive and age-independent Swedish labor market.
“Research shows that age discrimination is already beginning in the 40’s. At the same time, we are living longer and the labor market is screaming for competence. We must have a labor market where everyone who wants to work can also work”, says Annika Strandhäll, Minister of Social Welfare and Chairman of the Pension Group.
The Delegation will work for a more inclusive and age-independent approach to working life and identify obstacles and opportunities to better utilize the elderly’s knowledge and experience. The delegation will also propose measures that counteract age discrimination.
“When we live longer, which is of course pleasing, it means working life has to adjust. Not least so that we can get adequate pensions. We need to think about what is needed for older people to be able to, want and get jobs so that their skills are lost completely unnecessarily, “says Anna Hedborg, chairman of the Delegation for Older Labor.
Together with researchers, opinion makers, retirement organizations, social partners and authorities, the delegation will raise issues such as the view of older people in the labor market, prejudice, the demographic change of society, and the importance of longer working life for society and the final pension. In addition, the Delegation will compile and disseminate existing knowledge and research, and may also initiate new reports.
The assignment is to be finalized to the Ministry of Social Affairs by October 1, 2020, and is part of the Pension Group’s agreement on long-term and safe pensions.
TEXT: RAGNHILD LARSSON
PHOTO: GUSTAV GIDENSTAM
