Aging

The Dutch pension system needs to be changed because if the economic crisis and aging of the population; the labor market faces problems too. How do we deal with the consequences of aging in society?

Kčne Henkens:
Employers have no use for senior staff


Organizations are not very happy about employing older people, says Kčne Henkens, Professor of Sociology of Retirement at Tilburg University and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI). Research among employers shows that only 22 percent encourage people to continue working until the age of 65. The argument that older employees are reliable, loyal and possess highly developed social skills is apparently not enough to convince employers to keep them on the books. The emphasis in job appraisals remains firmly on flexibility and speed in using new technology. “This shows a discrepancy among employers between rational thinking about the issues and their own actions,” argues Professor Henkens in the Dutch newspaper BN/De Stem.

Read more (in Dutch) in BN/De Stem.