Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
4. AAL at work
Work is one of the most important activities related to the daily life of each individual.
The importance of active participation in life for people is not only related to their
earning money in a paid job but also to the expression of their own personality which
can also be expressed in voluntary work. Each adult normally spends about six to eight
hours working every day (a quarter to a third of the day). To carry out his or her work,
each person has to use their physical and cognitive abilities and to interact with other
people. The importance of active participation in the lives of other people is
demonstrated by the fact that many studies have shown that after retirement, many
people decline rapidly in welfare and both physical and cognitive health, which, in
most cases, leads to premature death. The significance of these comments shows it is
fundamental that all societies should guarantee the right to work to all people, not only
to healthy people but also to the elderly and people with disabilities. Unfortunately
these rights are not always respected because of the inadequacy of working situations
which are often the real barriers to employment of elderly and people with disabilities.
This deficiency has negative effects not only on the lives of these people but also on
the richness and welfare of society as a whole, which is unable to benefit from the
skills, abilities and experiences of elderly and disabled persons.
4.1. Background
Demographic change, increase in average life expectancy and lower birth rates in the
population of Europe have important consequences for the supply of labour in Europe.
In the next few years, countries of EU will have to face up to the problems of an ageing
workforce, while in the long term they will have to face restrictions on the labour
supply caused by the shrinking working age population (European Commission, 2006).
Because of this ageing workforce and in order to reduce the waste of human resources
represented by premature retirement, the European Union has already adopted some
initiatives to delay the age at which workers leave the labour market and to increase the
employment rate of older workers. In particular, the conclusions of the Stockholm and
Barcelona European Council, which confirmed the importance of increasing the rate of
activity of older people, have been embedded in the European Employment Strategy to
“create more and better jobs”. The general aim is to increase participation in the labour
market for all groups of workers and also to reduce inequalities including those relating
to age. The new employment strategy explicitly includes promoting active ageing in the
sense of increasing participation in the labour force, working for additional years and
remaining at work longer (European Commission, 2006). A supplementary strategy in
many countries is to valorise voluntary work and to take actions that provide
comparable conditions for voluntary work.
In some EU Member States, many of those in the 45-54 age group are still very
much part of the labour market but, for the majority of them, skills development and
support either in the workplace or to help them return to the workplace are needed.
From the age of 55 years onwards, the nature of work participation often changes and,
for those in pre-retirement years, factors relating to pension provision and to gradual
retirement and flexibility in the workplace are more relevant.
