Article

Demographic change and labour markets

Details

Citation

Lisenkova K, McQuaid R & Wright RE (2010) Demographic change and labour markets. Twenty-First Century Society, 5 (3), pp. 243-259. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450144.2010.480828

Abstract
Two processes are expected to increasingly characterise demographic change in the 21st century in many countries: population ageing and potential population decline. Although there are links between population ageing and population decline, they will affect the labour market in different ways. As a population ages, so will its labour force, with an increasing share of older workers and a decreasing share of younger workers. Assuming no changes in age-specific labour force participation rates, population decline will result in a shrinking of the labour force, particularly in those where the female participation rates are already high. Developed and developing countries are going to be affected by these demographic processes in different ways during the next four or so decades. Both groups of countries are going to experience labour force ageing. However, the size of the potential labour force in developing countries will still increase significantly during this period, while it is likely to decline in many developed countries. To address the issue of increasing dependency associated with a potentially declining labour force, developed countries are likely to try to increase productivity and labour force participation rates, especially of older workers, as well as to use immigration to counteract labour force decline.

Keywords
ageing; productivity; labour markets

Journal
Twenty-First Century Society: Volume 5, Issue 3

StatusPublished
Publication date30/11/2010
URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/16970
PublisherTaylor and Francis
ISSN1745-0144

People (1)

People

Professor Ronald McQuaid

Professor Ronald McQuaid

Emeritus Professor, Management, Work and Organisation

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