Labour Force and Active Ageing in the Context of Current Demographic Changes
Mihaela-Georgiana Oprea1, Mihaela-Irma Vlădescu1, Anna-Maria Vasile2, and Predrag Vuković3ABSTRACT. Population ageing is a global phenomenon, affecting most European countries, including Romania. This is due among other things to high migration, rising life expectancy and a steadily declining birth rate. The consequences of this demographic phenomenon are particularly important because the social and economic effects are long-term. Some of the research in this area has focused on studying the population aged 65 to 74 (young seniors) who may represent a labour resource at a time when many countries are facing an acute shortage of human resources. This study aims to analyse the demographic situation in the EU and Romania through a comparative analysis of the number of seniors in both EU countries and Romania. In more developed countries such as Italy, France, Germany and Finland, the elderly population exceeds 20% of the total population, confirming concerns about demographic ageing. By residence environment, in Romania we have identified a quite obvious delimitation by fields of activity. While in rural areas, agriculture is the predominant activity, the urban population often opts for fields requiring higher education such as education and health. As a result, although challenging, the inclusion of older people in the labour market can reduce labour shortages, increase contributions to the state budget and at the same time contribute to greater social cohesion.
JEL codes: J11; J21; J24; J26
Keywords: labour force; active ageing; young seniors; demographic changes; population ageing; employment
How to cite: Oprea, M.-G., Vlădescu, M.-I., Vasile, A.-M., and Vuković, P. (2024). “Labour Force and Active Ageing in the Context of Current Demographic Changes,” Economics, Management, and Financial Markets 19(1): 45–66. doi: 10.22381/emfm19120243.
Received 8 April 2024 • Received in revised form 18 May 2024
Accepted 14 June 2024 • Available online 20 June 2024