Swiss urged to work longer

Older workers need to be retained longer, says the OECD Keystone

Switzerland must do more to encourage older people to stay in work longer, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The OECD says Switzerland and other countries should outlaw age discrimination and create favourable conditions for older workers.

“If nothing is done quickly to extend working lives, living standards will fall in the course of the coming decades,” the report warns.

It comes amid controversial proposals to raise the retirement age in Switzerland from 65 to 67.

The main concern, the report says, is that the ratio of retired to working people will increase, threatening a pensions crisis.

At present, 22 per cent of the population in OECD countries is aged 65 and over as a proportion of those aged 20-64. This will have grown to 46 per cent by 2050.

But although the Swiss authorities are being advised to take action, the report points out that older workers are more active in Switzerland than in any other OECD country apart from Iceland.

Some 70 per cent of Swiss between the ages of 54 and 65 are still employed. This figure is higher than the OECD average of 48 per cent and well above France and Belgium, where the figure hovers at around 25 per cent.

However, the OECD says Switzerland still needs to promote better coordination between employers, insurers and pension funds, to ensure decisions made at governmental level filter down.

The Swiss economics ministry said on Monday that moves were underway to tackle the problem.

Recommendations

Measures to keep people working longer must go beyond pension reforms and ensuring a greater balance in the workplace between younger and older workers, says the report.

One of the OECD’s recommendations is to offer sufficient highly skilled jobs to encourage older workers to delay retirement.

In addition, employment agencies must do more to put older people forward for jobs that match their requirements and skills. This would help to reduce the number of people nearing retirement age who are on benefit.

The report says a high percentage of older people – particularly in France and Belgium – go straight from unemployment benefit to their pension.

The report also says countries must stop providing packages which encourage people to take early retirement.

However, despite a number of countries eliminating these schemes, the average retirement age in many countries is two or three years lower than the legal retirement age.

Finally, the report says older workers must stop viewing early retirement as a right and accept that they will have to work up to the legal retirement age in order to relieve the strain on the economy.

swissinfo with agencies

Older workers

On average, 48% of people between the ages of 55 and 64 in OECD countries are still at work.
This figure rises to 70% in Switzerland.
France and Belgium have the lowest percentage at 25%.
The OECD is comprised of 30 countries.