How to achieve “Demographic Resilience in Uncertain Times”
In the demographic transition, how can Europe ensure it has enough essential workers (care, infrastructure) in coming decades? This question was discussed in an international meeting by the EU-funded FutuRes Policy Lab. More than 200 participants joined online from policy, research, international organisations, civil society and business, on March 11.
Our research experts gave insight into their latest findings in four areas: automation/labour markets, families, equality in older age, and institutional resilience.
“People will have to work longer”, said Prof. Arnstein Aassve, demographer and Head of FutuRes. “This is a given, however, it begs the question: what makes working longer easier?” Prof. Aassve is a specialist in crisis resilience, which is the main theme of FutuRes: How to help people cope and overcome societal shocks.
One building block for this was presented by Prof. Jakub Bijak of Southampton University. “Job automation will make some people on the labour market vulnerable. It is however possible to invest in making automation work in our favour.” Prof. Bijak specialises in labour market resilience. He urged to prepare for the digital transformation proactively – e.g. to use the strengths of automation to include people in the labour market and help them do their job longer.” He continued to say that policy must focus on “upskilling and education, lest we risk losing our competitiveness.”
Other experts added the value of resilience outside the labour market, such as in families. “Family resilience should be understood in terms of quality of life”, said Prof. Agnieszka Professor Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak of Warsaw School of Economics, “labour market flexibility, new work arrangements, can help reduce gender gaps especially in finances in later life.”
Equality on older age is another deciding factor, especially when it comes to the public acceptance of pension reforms. Current research by the FutuRes team in Vienna points what appears to be a policy dilemma: “Reforms aiming to make the pension system sustainable tend to decrease equality between socio-economic groups - and the other way around", said Dr. Miguel Sánchez-Romero of TU Vienna, "pension reforms aimed at reducing the negative effects of life expectancy inequality slow down economic growth, making it harder to sustain the pension system." He stressed the need to develop policy which addresses both issues simultaneously - equality and sustainability - however, that there is more discussion needed between research and policymakers on how to build such a reform.
In her keynote, former advisor to the European Commission Prof. Pearl Dykstra underlined the opportunities for policy making, but also warned of the obstacles: "Over the past 2 years, the policy experts who have participated in FutuRes Policy Lab meetings have demonstrated the will and competence to build resilience in Europe to face demographic change. Yet these experts worry that their ideas, plans and initiatives are hindered by two trends. One is a political stalemate, as more and more European countries are struggling with stable government formation. The other is the current possibility of a security and economic recession, which has brought the spirit of austerity back to Europe." She called for the European transdisciplinary dialogue to continue, as exemplified by the FutuRes Policy Lab.
Read the full keynote by Prof. Dykstra here.
A publication with all insights from the event will appear later this year. Follow on Linkedin or write us to be notified.
See the results of the subsequent survey "Demographic Resilience and Policy"
