Continuing vocational training is regarded, along with the adaptation of working conditions, as one of the main ways of ensuring active ageing. It prevents the deskilling of ageing workers and helps to maintain their employability, which is vital for keeping such workers in work. These are the findings of a report by the Centre for Population, Poverty and Socioeconomic Policy Studies in Luxembourg based on a survey on ‘Keeping older people in work’.
In April 2006, the Centre for Population, Poverty and Socioeconomic Policy Studies (Centre d’Études de Populations, de Pauvreté et de Politiques Socio-Economiques/International Networks for Studies in Technology, Environment, Alternatives, Development, CEPS/INSTEAD) published the findings of a study (in French, 384Kb PDF) entitled ‘Promoting active ageing: company practices in continuing training for older workers’. The study analyses companies’ attitudes to promoting active ageing and their practices in continuing training for older workers; it was carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Work and Employment (Ministère du Travail et de l’Emploi) in Luxembourg.
About the study
The companies’ views are taken from responses to the survey on ‘Keeping older workers in work’ (Enquête maintien des travailleurs âgés en activité). This survey was conducted in the spring of 2004 among private sector companies based in Luxembourg with 10 or more employees. The analyses of the low rate of participation of older workers in training were conducted on the basis of individual data relating to salaried workers collected in connection with the Living in Luxembourg socioeconomic panel (Panel Socio-Economique ‘Liewen zu Letzebuerg’, PSELL) programme in 2001.
Importance of continuing training
Continuing training covers two areas: further training and retraining. Further training is important for maintaining the capabilities of older workers in a context where jobs increasingly require qualifications. Retraining is also highly important for older workers. First, it enhances the possibilities for companies to transfer older workers to other activities. Secondly, it enables older workers to consider carrying on working in terms of embarking on a second career, taking on tasks which are different from those previously performed. In this way, these workers can prolong their working lives.
At present, the retraining approach appears to be relatively underdeveloped in Luxembourg. About 75% of the training courses attended by employees of any age are intended to help workers ‘adapt to the work station’, which suggests that these courses are more concerned with further training.
Companies consistently claim that access to training is the same at any age, but such claims have to be considered in light of the training investments actually made by companies.
Training investments
In the period 2003–2004, 78% of companies employing older workers declared that they provided these workers with training, compared with 22% declaring that they were not training them at all. In fact, these figures disguise considerable disparities. At first sight, this could be seen as a positive finding, with a majority of companies attentive to the training needs of older employees. However, the situation appears less optimistic when analysing the attention paid by a company to training older employees compared with the total investment in training. From this point of view, it appears that companies give priority to training their younger employees. Only if the training investments made by companies are substantial will older employees really be considered.
Among companies where 50% or more of employees undertook training, only about 8% of employers stated that they provided no training for older employees. However, when examining companies in which only 5% of employees undertook training, almost 40% of employers stated that they provided no training for older employees (see figure). Older employees are thus clearly at the bottom of the list when it comes to investment in training.
Companies providing little or no training for ageing workers in relation to the number of trained workers, 2004 (%)
In the context of budget restrictions in which decisions about continuing training programmes are being taken, it is not surprising to find that younger workers receive priority, while older workers only benefit when training efforts are more comprehensive.
Around 50% of companies explain older workers’ limited access to training by the fact that they have fewer needs, while the other half explain that older workers have less interest in receiving training.
Differing training needs
About 12% of older workers attended training during 2001, compared with 22% of those under the age of 35 years and 18% of those aged 35–50 years. It is not surprising to find an apparent contrast between the actual rate of participation and that declared by employers: nearly 80% of companies claim that they train older workers as much as their younger colleagues, but the actual rate of participation is only half that amount.
In Luxembourg, being aged 50 years or more reduces a worker’s chances of receiving continuing training to half that of a worker under the age of 35 years. However, it appears that this finding does not provide definite evidence of the existence of discrimination. Differing needs may well explain, at least in part, the fact that older workers receive less training than younger workers.
Of the older workers who attended training, very few were in low-skilled or unskilled positions, which compares with about 11% for younger workers in such positions. This situation could be explained in terms of requirements: it is a well-known fact that more traditional jobs, which tend to be practised by older workers, require little or no training, whereas more modern jobs, even the less skilled ones – which tend to be practised by younger workers – are often associated with training requirements. Thus, the almost complete lack of access to continuing training for low-skilled older workers may partly be due to the low training needs entailed by the work they do.
Reference
Zanardelli, M. and Leduc, K., ‘Favoriser le vieillissement actif: les pratiques des entreprises en matière de formation continue pour les travailleurs agés’ [Promoting active ageing: company practices in continuing training for older workers], Population & Emploi, No. 15, CEPS/INSTEAD, April 2006, available online at: http://www.ceps.lu/pdf/3/art1100.pdf?CFID=1068318&CFTOKEN=30692306.
Véronique De Broeck, Prevent
