C Explanatory memorandum by Mr Hanson,
rapporteur for opinion
1 The report by the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination
covers an important problem faced by an increasing number of people
in ageing societies across Europe. As rapporteur for opinion, I
therefore welcome the report prepared by Ms Sahiba Gafarova, which
is succinct and to the point. Thanks to my experience gained in
working for local and State authorities (namely as former Vice-Mayor
of Tartu, the second city of Estonia, from 1997 to 2003 and from
2007 to 2011) as well as for the private sector, I am very familiar with
the situation of older workers on the local labour market and am
therefore happy to make an input to this important debate.
2 The explanatory memorandum provides an overview of the issue,
differentiating the various difficulties faced by older workers
on the labour market and in employment and containing some concrete
proposals for action to be taken to capitalise on older workers’
experience. However, not all of the differentiations and proposals
have found their way into the draft resolution.
3 Moreover, a reference could be included in the draft resolution
to persons wishing to continue an active working life beyond pensionable
age, a group that can increasingly be observed in all Council of
Europe member States. More and more elderly people are in good physical
and mental shape, and consequently wish to pursue their professional
lives, even if the type and level of activity need to be adapted
in some cases. Moreover, in the current economic context, many older
persons are obliged to continue working in order to top up their
modest State pensions with an additional income.
4 From my point of view, the draft resolution therefore merits
a few additions in order to ensure that member States will fully
understand for which age group action is required and to stimulate
concrete positive action in this field.
5 Amendment A relating
to paragraph 1 is intended to introduce clear definitions for the
central terms of the text, older workers and older persons. The
definition of an “older worker” stems from the activities of the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in this context
and is to be distinguished from “prime-age people” aged 25-49.
Note The definition of an “older person” corresponds
to the one used by the World Health Organization (WHO) which recognises
the chronological age of 65 as the threshold of becoming “older”
for most developed world countries.
Note
6 Amendment B extends
the group of people focused on by the text to those who wish to
continue to work beyond the respective pensionable age of a country,
and who should not be discriminated against either in the current
economic context.
7 Amendment C for its
part introduces into the draft resolution some of the more differentiated
criteria for discrimination on the labour market, which may in some
cases be cumulated with old age, as justly developed by the explanatory
report, so as to provide member States with a clearer picture of
specific difficulties encountered by certain older workers on the
labour market.
8 Amendment D strengthens
the gender dimension of the draft resolution in order to better
reflect this social reality as well as the institutional origin
of this text, which emanates from the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination.
It is well known that, amongst older workers, older women face particular
difficulties when they wish to re-enter the job market. According
to Eurostat data in 2012, the employment rate for men aged 50 to
64 in the European Union (of 28) was 62.5% whilst it was estimated
at only 52.3% for women.
Note Moreover, the progressive deregulation
of the labour market has not been gender neutral. Whilst occupational
flexibility typically affects men at the beginning and at the end
of their working life, women are more frequently involved in temporary
and part-time occupations throughout their working life.
Note
9 Amendment E attempts
to make the draft resolution slightly more concrete in the positive
measures suggested for reinforcing the position of older workers
on the labour market, and to promote the introduction of flexible
measures aimed at creating work places adapted to this age group.
Some measures of this kind had already been suggested by the Parliamentary
Assembly in 2011 in
Resolution
1793 (2011) “Promoting active ageing – capitalising on older people’s
working potential”. In this text, the Assembly had asked member
States “to promote policies that aim at improving the quality of
flexible work arrangements for older workers, enabling them to move
to less demanding jobs and opting for part-time work, teamwork,
job-sharing, task rotation and redefinition of tasks between team
members”. In line with this call, more positive measures should
also be included in the current draft resolution on discrimination
against older people, in order to compensate for some of the negative
stereotypes that prevail in the current employment sector.
