Seniors take 'out of touch' treasurer to task over older worker push

The Treasurer is concerned the ageing population is an economic time bomb. He has called for a boost in workplace participation rates for the over 65s and wants them to retrain so they can stay engaged in work for longer.

It's a view which resulted in a mix of outrage, hilarity and despair from many of our readers.

"Where are the jobs?" they asked on The Senior's Facebook page and in calls to the newsroom.

"Age discrimination is alive and well in Australia," said others who also questioned how many over 60-year-olds Mr Frydenberg employed in his own offices.

"If an older person loses a job it's almost impossible to get another one. If an older person hangs onto a job that's one less for a younger person," wrote PW.

Readers gave their own examples of being retrenched and being unable to get another job and of being overlooked by HR managers and recruiters despite having experience and qualifications.

Many readers raised the issue of an older person's physical ability to remain in the workplace with some pointing out that their bodies were worn out by years of heavy manual labour; while others stressed the amount of volunteer work that retirees did in their communities and asked whether the government recognised the financial value to Australia of that work.

Mike (61), who didn't want his second name used, told The Senior he had worked a number of jobs throughout his life from farm hand to car salesman to labourer.

He had to give up working on a building site four years ago due to needing a hip replacement and hadn't been able to get work since despite doing computer courses and working with a job services provider.

Mike said he barely survived on newstart and had to sell his unit in regional NSW because he couldn't afford the mortgage payments.

He said most of the people on his computer courses were mature age and he didn't know of any who had been able to find work. He said the Treasurers comments were "particularly insensitive".

"We're not bludgers, we're not a burden. I've paid taxes almost all of my life and now I find myself living below the breadline. I won't be able to go on the age pension until I'm 67. I don't have heaps of super but what I have I'll probably need to use as soon as I can access it.

"I'd take a job this afternoon if one was offered to me. But if I had the chance I would ask the Treasurer 'where are the jobs', I can tell you they're not in the regions and there not for older blokes like me. "

Some readers were outraged that after a full and dedicated working life they were now considered a "burden on society" and said they had already paid their dues over 50 years of service to their country.

Addressing the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia, Mr Frydenberg said the country was facing economic challenges posed by the ageing population.

As more Australians live longer , the number of working age Australians for every person aged over 65 diminishes," he said.

"Whereas in 1974-75 it was 7.4 to 1, forty years later in 2014-15 it was 4.5 to 1 and it is now estimated over the next four decades to fall to just 2.7 to 1.

"As this trend plays out, the impact on the budget will be felt on both the revenue and spending side."

Mr Frydenberg said as the ageing population put pressure on health, aged care and pension systems, policies were needed to respond effectively to the challenge.

"Our policies need to leverage the three P's: population, participation and productivity," he said.

"When it comes to workforce participation, we are at record highs and the participation rate for those aged 65 and over has increased from 12.3 per cent to 14.6 per cent over the last five years.

"The participation rate for this cohort was less than 6 per cent twenty years ago.

"However, with Australians in work currently undertaking 80 per cent of their training before the age of twenty-one, this will have to change if we want to continue to see more Australians stay engaged in work for longer.

"It is not about forcing people to stay in the workforce, but rather giving them the opportunity and the choice to pursue life-long learning and skills training if they so choose."

However, Labor has accused the Treasurer of wanting to keep workers chained to their tools and desks until they drop; and advocacy group National Seniors Australia said Mr Frydenberg could be unintentionally engaging in ageism by implying older Australians were a burden.

"We've heard this before in descriptions like 'tidal wave' and 'tsunami'," said National Seniors chief advocate Ian Henschke.

"Rather than stigmatise older Australians, we should blame previous Treasurers from 1980 who have stood by and watched this happen.

"Let's deal with the facts, for example, that older Australians are wanting to work more and longer but they are not getting the work they need.

"When they do retrain, we know they are experiencing discrimination.

"Training and retraining costs money and despite the government offering incentives of $10,000 to employers who take on the over 60s, the largest cohort on Newstart is the over 55s.

"Let's also not forget the many older Australians caring for other older people and their families."

Mr Henschke said the Treasurer also needed to address the fact that the last intergenerational report got its predictions wrong.

"Contrary to the view that the pension costs to the nation will grow, the evidence shows that quite the opposite will happen and is happening," Mr Henschke said.

Recent modelling by respected actuarial firm Rice Warner shows over time, more and more people will self-fund their retirement and the proportion of the population receiving the pension will fall not rise.

Rice Warner's projection show that by 2038 only 56.6 per cent of the eligible population will receive any age pension with 29.10 per cent on the full rate and 27.5 on a part pension.

Mr Henschke said it was not true that pension costs would rise.

He explained the cost of the age pension was around 2.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) 20 years ago (and the 2002 Inter-generational Report projected growth to 4.6% of GDP by 2042).

However, in reality costs have fallen. Today, age pension expenditure is around 2.7% of GDP and it will keep falling not rising in future, he said.

Ian Yates from COTA Australia said it wasn't about forcing people to work longer than they want to or are physically able to. "It's about supporting Australians to work longer when they choose to do so and creating and capitalising on opportunities for them to do so.

"A significant proportion of people aged between 65 and 75 are still working and more would do so if age discrimination and lack of support weren't such barriers to remaining in the workforce, often from the 50s onwards," Mr Yates said.

"People work longer for many reasons, whether that be financial freedom, professional satisfaction or staying engaged socially and they should be supported to work as long as they choose to."

Mr Yates said the Australian economy will need more mature workers as the overall ratio between workforce to non-workforce populations shrinks.

At the same time all employers would benefit from an age diverse workforce, which has been shown to be both more resilient and more productive.

Mr Yates called for a major culture shift among Australian employers to stamp out ageism and discrimination directed to older Australian workers.

"At least 30% of employers admitted to the Australian Human Rights Commission last year that they would not recruit workers over 50, which is morally reprehensible and entirely illegal," Mr Yates said.

"Australia needs stronger laws and government leadership in line with measures on gender discrimination and racism."