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Employers
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Facts and Figures
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The Ageing Workforce issue and what it means to you
Australia’s population is ageing. This is caused by a declining birth rate and longer life expectancy. In 1970-71, 31 percent of the population was aged 15 years or younger. By 2001-2002 this proportion had dropped to 22 percent. Over the same period the proportion of Australia’s population aged 65 years and over had grown from 8 percent to 13 percent (Australia’s Demographic Challenges, 2004)  . It is projected to almost double in the next forty years to around 25 percent (Intergenerational Report, 2002) . At the same time, growth in the population of traditional workforce age is expected to slow to almost zero. The latest projections supplied to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) by Access Economics indicate that, while the working age population currently grows by around 180,000 people every year, the working age population will grow by just 175,000 for the entire decade of the 2020s – less than a tenth of the current pace.
Towards the middle of this century, after the baby boomers have retired, there is likely to be only 2 people of working age for every person aged 65 years and over. What exacerbates the impact of the ageing of Australia’s workforce is the low labour force participation rate of older people here – not only will we have a growing group of older people, but, if the current low labour force participation rates of mature age people continue, we will not be able to harness their energies and talents. The labour force participation rate for men aged 45 to 54 is 88 percent, but this falls to 67 percent for those aged 55 to 64. For women, participation of 76 percent at age 45 to 54 falls to 46 percent at ages 55 to 64 (ABS Labour Force data, November 2005).
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Industry fact sheets
For information about mature age employment in your industry, click on the relevant link:
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Mature age employment data
Labour force statistics
- Employment for people aged 45 years and over has increased by 4.1 percent over the 12 months to June 2004 and by 22.8 percent over the past 5 years.
- The unemployment rate for mature age people is consistently lower than that for younger workers. In November 2005, the unemployment rate for mature age people was 3.0 percent compared with 5.7 percent for persons aged 15 to 44 years.
- The labour force participation rate* for men aged 45 to 54 is 88 percent, but this falls to 67 percent for those aged 55 to 64 (Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force data, November 2005).
- For women, participation of 76 percent at age 45 to 54 falls to 46 percent at ages 55 to 64 (Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force data, November 2005).
- However, when mature age workers do lose their jobs, they are less likely to be re-employed and are more likely to exit the labour force altogether, which is one reason for the relatively low unemployment rate
* Participation Rate
For any group, the labour force (that is, those employed or unemployed) expressed as a percentage of the civilian population aged 15 years and over in the same group.
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Labour Productivity
Labour productivity (real gross domestic product per hour worked) in the market sector in Australia grew by 3.0 percent in the year to the September quarter 2005. (Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force data)
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