The Commissioner for Age Discrimination, Elizabeth Broderick, welcomed the Rudd Government’s recent announcement of an initial $43
million package of measures that give priority to supporting mature
age workplace participation and training.
“Genuine choice is the key to success in supporting and increasing mature age workplace participation – choice to work if we need
to, choice to work if we want to,” Broderick said.
She said that training was an important part of the picture, as
well as a shift in community attitudes to achieving these successes
for older workers.
“It is imperative that active strategies be developed to address the discrimination and prejudice that older workers can experience when looking for employment or even continuing in employment,” said Broderick.
An estimated 84 per cent of mature workers (aged 50 or more) are
set to exit the workforce before 2020, and 43 per cent intend to re
tire in the next three years, refuting claims that the global financial cri
sis would keep them in the workforce for longer.
The survey conducted by ageing workforce specialists SageCo
showed that the retirement plans of the Baby Boomer generation have
not changed, despite the fact that super funds took a hit during the GFC.
The factors influencing decisions about “when” and “if” people
were to retire were based around health and wellbeing (61 per
cent), career and flexible work options (34 per cent) and care-giving
responsibilities (17 per cent).
