Employment And Labor Market Policies For An Ageing Workforce

Over the last few years the problems of the ageing workforce have become of increasing concern to policy-makers and the main actors involved at European level, especially starting with year 2000, by the adoption of the EU Directive on equal treatment in employment and occupation for all people irrespective of a range of factors, including age. As a new member state to the European Union, Romania is undergoing the aligning process of the national legislation at the EU regulations and the application of the measures/practices regarding the ageing workforce. 33 % of the inhabitants of Romania were aged 50+ in 2006 (EU-25: 35 %). The employment rate of the older generation (50 - 64) amounted 47.5 %, which was lower than the European average (EU-25: 51.9 %), too. The problems of the ageing workforce have been taken into account starting with the period of the "big" restructuring of the Romanian industry (during the 1990s there were collective redundancies in mining and the metallurgic industry) when the unemployment rate was very high and the unemployed people over 45 years have become gradually long term unemployed, being unable to reintegrate into the labor market. Furthermore, the employers, in the same period, preferred to hire younger people to the older ones, due to the lower costs of the young workforce and their assessed higher ability to face the job requirements (i.e. abilities in using new technologies - including computers and IT, the availability of working long hours, the resistance to working conditions such as stress, hard working conditions etc.). This tendency may still be observed. This is why older persons choose to retire, even earlier. Older workers are experiencing more long-term unemployment and get less training than younger ones. The Romanian government took the first steps by drawing up two National Employment Plans (PNAO): PNAO 2002-2003, PNAO 2004-2005 and PNAO 2006-2007.