The proportion of older workers in the European Union will increase in the coming decades. The trends of the working population in the EU-27 suggest that the age group from 55 to 64 years will increase by 16.2% (9.9 million) between 2010 and 2030. Population ageing is one of the most important aspects of the future of European societies. Therefore, it is essential to boost the integration of older people into sustainable employment and the implementation of effective employment measures addressed to older unemployed and especially to long-term unemployed aged 50+.
Seeking the successful activation and integration of older long-term unemployed into sustainable employment, the European project Age – Work – Balance: Balanced Approaches for an Ageing Workforce in Metropolitan Areas examined measures, programmes and projects which target people above the age of 50 in metropolitan areas (Graz, Berlin, Hamburg, Santander, Dublin) in order to identify approaches that have proven successful in integrating older people into the labour market, and to discover the common factors that determine the best balanced relationship between a particular approach and the ‘network-structure’ in which the practice is embedded.
Nearing completion, the project AWB held this week on February 20ieth its Final Conference in Berlin, Germany that counted with the participation of more than 50 people coming from AWB partner organizations, as well as external experts invited coming from different European countries, namely: Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Spain. It is worth to mention the attendance of the
Senate of Berlin Department for Economics,Technology and Research, and Representatives of AGE Platform Europe and ESF-Age Network, as well as other important representatives from Cantabria Employment Service (Santander), Berliner BÄr (Berlin), jobcenter team.arbeit.hamburg (Hamburg), University of Regensburg (Regensburg), Ballyfermot/Chapelizod Partnership (Dublin), Ministry of Regional Development Poland (Warsaw), Italia Lavoro, Rome, Association of Finnish Local & Regional Authorities (Helsinki) among others.
The exchange of experiences from different agents and areas focused a day, characterized by active participation, discussions and a multilingual round table analyzing both the current situation of the aged workforce and the future prospects to face the severe demographic change. The main section of the event was dedicated to the presentation and dissemination of the learnings and findings acquired throughout AWB project, now compiled in the project main final result: a Strategy paper guiding policymakers in the design of effective innovative employment approaches promoting the labour market integration of long term unemployed aged 50+.
The Project findings, reports and conclusions are available at the project webpage: www.age-work-balance.metropolisnet.eu
