Page 39 - increasing-the-value-of-age-guidance-in-employers-age-management-strategies

Increasing the value of age: guidance in employers’ age management strategies

61.7 years on average. The expected retirement age differs by the current age of
respondents, with those aged 55 years and over expecting to work until 66 years
while those aged 15 to 24 only expect to work until 56.7 years’ (European
Commission, 2012b, p. 8).
The outcomes of this survey also show that 42% of Europeans believe that
they will be capable of doing the work they are currently doing beyond the age of
65, while 17% expect that they will not be able to carry on in their current job until
they are 60 (p. 55). One third of Europeans say that they would like to continue
working after they reach retirement age (p. 74), and the idea of combining a part-
time job and a partial pension is more appealing than full retirement to almost two
thirds of Europeans (p. 76).

3.2.6. Older people participate less in learning
Figure 4 shows the participation of older people in learning, using data from the
EU labour force survey 2011. One striking aspect is decreasing participation by
age in all EU-27 Member States: the rate for adults aged 45 to 54 is above 7%
while for adults aged 55 to 74 it is below 4%.

Figure 4. Share of adults participating in education and training by specific
cohorts in 2011

Source: Calculations based on Eurostat, labour force survey, 2011.
Participation generally decreases with age, with the highest drop occurring
between the two youngest cohorts analysed (45-54 and 55-64). However,
research from Germany suggests that age by itself (probably) does not explain
the low participation rate, once it’s controlled for other factors (Schröder et al.,
2004). Time spent in training follows the same pattern (OECD, 2011).

33