Remarks by Tánaiste Mary Harney at the Annual Conference of the Retirement Planning Council in the Conrad Hotel on Thursday 5th October 2000 Employers Urged to Recruit and Retain Older Employees - Harney Tánaiste to Meet Employers Representatives Greater Work Opportunities in Current Labour Market Reduced taxation is an incentive for those who choose to remain or re-enter workforce

The economic boom in Ireland has meant that there are plenty of employment opportunities available for all who are in a position to avail of them. And labour shortages mean that employers have to look to all available sources to meet their needs.

The number of older people who choose to remain in work - currently at around 140,000 over the age of 55 - is small relative to the working population. But the rate of participation for the older age group has been increasing.

In 1995, over 42% of persons aged 55-64 were participating in the Labour Market. This had increased to over 46% by year 2000, with both males and females benefiting from increased participation. And yet there is a sizeable number - in the region of 300,000 people - aged between 45 and 64 who are either retired, unemployed or not in the labour force. The majority - over 200,000 - are females.

The importance of older people in the workforce will grow over the coming 5-10 years as a growing proportion of workers enter the 55-64 age group and the population of young people declines.

Given these trends, I believe that we have to look at ways of encouraging older people to stay in or come back into the workforce as against the situation that prevailed in the past of encouraging early retirement so as to create employment opportunities. As people enter their later years the decision to work full-time or part-time or to retire is a voluntary one based on lifestyle choices. Access to the workplace for older people should be driven by equality considerations rather then economic pressures. The choice of wanting to remain within, or re-enter, the labour force must rest with each individual.

Across EU Member States, public policies and workplace practises have begun to change towards improving the employment prospects and labour force participation of older people.

Ireland is ahead of most Member States in having already included the "age" ground in recent employment equality legislation.

I believe however that the onus is firmly on employers in the first instance to retain older employees. Employers will have to actively demonstrate a positive attitude both in terms of retaining and recruiting older, experienced and skilled workers.

In that sense employers will need to be flexible if older women and men are to help address the labour shortages in the economy. This means employers being flexible towards work time options, recognition of family circumstances and adaptation of the workplace to meet the needs of the older person.

It is my intention to meet with employer’s representatives to see what practical steps can be taken in this regard.

The Government’s policy of reducing the tax burden is an incentive for older people to continue working, especially those who may wish to work part-time to supplement their income.

And while there are no major disincentives in the current pension or social insurance arrangements, we may need to look at how they could be adapted to positively promote continued working by older people.

For example Finland has introduced a part time pension option to allow people to "semi-retire" and still retain their skills in the economy. A recent UK report also made a similar recommendation. Retirement options should be flexible where people can move out of the labour force at a pace they can deal with. This will enable the individual to adjust in a more meaningful manner to retirement.

Another aspect of the equation is the suitability of skills among older people for the types of jobs available. Depending on the circumstances on retirement, a person may be either over-skilled or under-skilled for positions on offer to older people. I will be asking the FÁS Placement and Training services to examine this aspect to see the extent of the problem and the means of addressing it.