Given the ageing challenges, there is an increasing pressure in OECD countries to promote longer working lives. This report provides an overview of policy initiatives implemented in Denmark over the past decade.

Given the ageing challenges, there is an increasing pressure in OECD countries to promote longer working lives. This report provides an overview of policy initiatives implemented in Denmark over the past decade. Even if these recent reforms are well in line with the recommendations of the 2005 OECD report Ageing and Employment Policies: Denmark, the focus has been put mainly on the supply side. The aim of this new report is to identify what more could be done to promote longer working lives. As a first step, the government should assess closely the implementation process to ensure that the expected outcomes of the reforms are achieved. More broadly, the strategy should act simultaneously in three areas by: i) strengthening incentives to carry on working; ii) tackling employment barriers on the side of employers; and iii) improving the employability of older workers.

People today are living longer than ever before, but what is a boon for individuals can be challenging for societies. If nothing is done to change existing work and retirement patterns, the number of older inactive people who will need to be supported by each worker could rise by around 40% between 2018 and 2050 on average in the OECD area. This would put a brake on rising living standards as well as enormous pressure on younger generations who will be financing social protection systems. Improving employment prospects of older workers will be crucial. At the same time, taking a life-course approach will be necessary to avoid accumulation of individual disadvantages over work careers that discourage or prevent work at an older age.

This report looks at the various pathways out of the labour market for older workers in the United States and at how employers can be supported to retain and hire older workers.

Currently, Japan has the highest old-age dependency ratio of all OECD countries, with a ratio in 2017 of over 50 persons aged 65 and above for every 100 persons aged 20 to 64. This ratio is projected to rise to 79 per hundred in 2050. The rapid population ageing in Japan is a major challenge for achieving further increases in living standards and ensuring the financial sustainability of public social expenditure. However, with the right policies in place, there is an opportunity to cope with this challenge by extending working lives and making better use of older workers' knowledge and skills. This report investigates policy issues and discusses actions to retain and incentivise the elderly to work more by further reforming retirement policies and seniority-wages, investing in skills to improve productivity and keeping up with labour market changes through training policy, and ensuring good working conditions for better health with tackling long-hours working culture.