Tackling Barriers in Employer Practice
The biggest stumbling block to older people’s labor force participation comes from employers, who very often have discriminated against older workers and are locked into a rigid, binary mindset of retirement. This area also represents the biggest gap for policy efforts, as demonstrated in the lack of government focus on anti-ageism legislation and enforcement. Nevertheless, while labor market structures vary by country, encouraging progress is being made where mandatory retirement is eliminated, support is provided for employment of older adults, flexibility is introduced into retirement, and efforts are made to facilitate older workers’ productive engagement.
According to the 2012 EU Active Ageing survey, more than one in five respondents have either witnessed or been the subject of discrimination in the workplace because they are perceived to be too old. A lack of opportunities to retire gradually by progressively reducing working hours was the most important reason for people age 55 and older to stop working, as cited by 72 percent of respondents. Moreover, 70 percent cited employers’ negative perceptions of older employees as an important obstacle that stops those age 55 or older from working.
The Irodori Project in Japan
In Kamikatsu, a small rural town in Katsuura District, Tokushima Prefecture, nearly half of the population is older than 65, and 86 percent of homes are connected to the internet through a fiber-optic network. It is the site of “Irodori,” a cooperative selling brightly colored leaves. Through the “Irodori” project, local farmers sell some 320 different kinds of leaves grown in the local mountains and fields, which are used for Japanese-style table settings. Senior farmers can access market information, receive orders, and manage shipments via special trackball-controlled computers placed in agricultural cooperatives, and more recently, through the use of special tablet devices that were developed in partnership with telecom operator NTT DoCoMo. Kamikatsu now has a market share of 90 percent for the Irodori leaf and has become a model for how ICT can be leveraged to contribute to the economic development of older adults and rural areas.