Kanatnikova J. A.

Institute of Gerontology NAMS of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine

EMPLOYMENT OF OLDER PERSONS IN UKRAINE AND EU: USING EVIDENCES ON ACTIVE AGING TO ENSURE THE CONVERGENCE

The labour force ageing in Ukraine takes place on the background of its insufficient educational and vocational flexibility, as well as weak development of institutions and traditions of self-education activities and lifelong learning, and is combined with a conservative structure of economy and employment. While data availability has improved at country-level during the past years, capacities need to be further developed to translate research into policy-recommendations. That is why the international cooperation in supporting evidence-informed policies on ageing is important. Especially it is important for Ukraine in terms of its wish to join the European Economic Community as an independent member with sustainable labour market.

The paper discusses the statistical evidences of differences in the economic activity of older people in Ukraine and EU countries and provides the information about legislative ways to converge the state of older workers in Ukraine to EU standards. In the paper the differences in the official retirement age, life expectancy and healthy life expectancy (DALE) are analyzed .We study the differences in the age and sex composition of older workers. The branch structure of employment at an older age in Ukraine and EU countries is compared. We study the differences in the extent and structure of part-time employment of older workers. We also compare the structure and scope of self-employment. The age and gender variation on wages of older workers in Ukraine and the EU are examined. The differences in working conditions and their impact on the health of older workers are analyzed. We study the differences in the sex-age structure of the unemployed older, as well as the duration and reasons for unemployment in this group. Comparison of the age and sex structure of the economically inactive older population and causes of their economic inactivity was made.

The main reasons of the differentiation of Ukraine from majority of EU countries in economic activity at older age are lower retirement age, low life expectancy at older ages, and short healthy life in terms of DALE. Majority of older workers are employed in the public sector, in non-manufacturing brunches such as culture, education and health, where wages are lower than average. Because of this the difference in incomes of older men and women in comparison with younger workers in Ukraine is more significant than in the EU. An important difference from the EU is that in Ukraine self-employed older persons are concentrated in the informal sector, where they perform unpaid work as members of the family. In Ukraine for 85% of older part-time workers their part-time employment is involuntary (could not find full-time work, were forcibly transferred by the administration to part-time work, etc.). In the EU, this part of older workers is not more than 23%. The unemployment rate among workers aged 50-59 in Ukraine is 1.5 times lower than in EU countries. On the one hand, this is a consequence of a lower retirement age in Ukraine. On the other hand, persons of retirement age (mainly women aged 55-59) who are looking for work are not considered by national labor statistics as unemployed ones. So, the mentioned differences in unemployment rates can be significantly lower. Or even the proportion of retirees who are looking for work in Ukraine may exceed the figure for the European Union. Among the economically inactive persons aged 50-64 in the Ukraine, the share of pensioners is a half times more than in the EU. Important are the other differences between the EU and Ukraine in the structure of economically inactive persons close to retirement age. For example the proportion of economically inactive people who have other family responsibilities, in Ukraine is 4 times more than those who have an illness or disability. The European Union is bucking the trend — here the share of economically inactive people of pre-retirement age who have the disease, more than 2 times higher than the number of those with family responsibilities.

Addressing the problem of the older people’s efficient employment in Ukraine is problematic because of the archaic economic structure, prevailing traditional low-technology and labour-intensive productions, widespread outdated technologies and equipment, harmful or arduous conditions of work.

A regulatory legal framework on prevention and prohibition of discrimination on the part of employers on the ground of age has not been properly developed in Ukraine; mechanisms for implementation of existing regulations and supervision of their observance have not been elaborated.

The Law of Ukraine on the Employment of Population provides for additional employment guarantees for certain citizen categories, including for persons of preretirement age, which are realized by means of a job quota, as nominated by employment centers, for enterprises, institutions and organizations in order to place such persons in a job. Certain steps have been taken in Ukraine recently to provide incentives for older workers’ participation in labour activities.