Housing needs “urgent shakeup”, and older workers need more flexibility: Report

Australia’s ageing pool of workers need greater flexibility to ensure they can stay in work, a report into senior Australians says, adding that housing needs an “urgent shake-up” to cope with looming demographic changes.

A report released yesterday entitled Realising the economic potential of senior Australians notes that the percentage of Australians aged over 55 is expected to rise to nearly 20% by 2050, up from 16% nowadays.

“While participation rates for people over 55 have risen significantly, barriers still inhibit older workers’ participation,” the report, written by the Panel on the Economic Potential of Senior Australians, says.

“These barriers directly affect the living standards of Australians, with the cost of not using the skills and experience of older Australians already at an estimated $10.8 billion a year.”

“These barriers also directly affect the ability of individuals to contribute, with two million older Australians outside the workforce wanting to work, some because of financial necessity.”

But the report – written by National Seniors Australia chair Everald Compton, former deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe, and Professor Gill Lewin – says the country’s shift to a knowledge-edge based company, from a manual-based society, leaves Australians better placed to work longer.

“This move away from physically demanding work opens up more opportunities for older workers. It coincides with a looming skills shortage in key industries (mining, construction and services), increasing the opportunity for older workers to retrain for new careers or to backfill in sectors depleted by the movement of more mobile workers,” the report says.

It also praises the increase in the retirement age to 67 and the removal of the age limit on superannuation guarantees as developments likely to keep older workers in paid work – although this shift requires support from industry, employers and governments.

The report recommends:

• Extending flexible work arrangements for people aged 55 and over, allowing this group great time for volunteering and babysitting commitments, for example.
• Looking at the affordability of income protection for people over 60.
• Appointing a cabinet minister for maximising the potential of the ageing population.
• Increasing housing supply by removing stamp duty.
• Reviewing planning regulations and removing regulatory impediments to new developments and promote greater mobility.
• Reviewing how income payments affect seniors’ housing decisions.
• Get governments to embed age diversity within workforce.

Speaking on the prospect of abolishing stamp duty after the report was released, Treasurer Wayne Swan said he was meeting with state treasurers to discuss state taxes.

“If there are impediments in the tax and transfer system that stop older Australians from contributing to the labour force, we should do something about that,” Swan added.

He also called on business to “recruit many of those greying Australians who are looking for a job but have had difficulty getting one.”