71st International Atlantic Economic Conference

March 16 - 19, 2011 | Athens, Greece

The Role of Lifelong Learning for an Ageing Europe

Saturday, 19 March 2011: 17:45
Elzbieta M. Roszko, M.Sc., M.A. , Department of Economic and Social Statistics, University of Lodz, Faculty of Economics and Sociology, Lodz, Poland, Poland
Justyna Wiktorowicz, Ph.D. , Department of Economic and Social Statistic, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
Europe in facing a great challenge and governments in Member States are forced to take common drastic actions towards coordination politics in the field of employability improvement of workers aged 50+.  The process of graying societies in not only the problem of Europe but all over the world. The fact is that less children are born and people are living longer so there is an increase of retirement population. This creates a great threat for the national social protection systems. In the scope of economic development and keeping the target of continuous economic growth the most crucial is human being, its qualifications, experience and knowledge. Policy of encouraging workers to early retirement in order to introduce younger workers to the labour market is not working any longer. Societies age getting older and together qualification are shrinking that younger worker are not able to replace fully.

The aim of this article is to evaluate some of the actions directed towards encouragement of older workers to remain on the labour market.  Lifelong learning is regarded here as the main driving force of keeping workers active in their working places.