The European Commission has adopted a set of policy tools to address the ageing population and the issues that the phenomenon brings to the area by enhancing support for parents, youngsters, older generations, and legal migration.
The new measures aim to reduce labour shortages, improve the social and economic situation, and reduce demographic change challenges, including bringing more migrants or qualified workers to the European zone.
According to the new measures, the EU Commission will offer support to four of the following demographic groups:
- Parents, by matching their family aspirations with paid work and ensuring access to quality childcare and a good work-life balance;
- Younger generations, supporting their careers, motivating them to develop skills and enable easy access to the labour market and provide affordable housing;
- Older generations by empowering them and sustaining their welfare, which include measures that combine appropriate labour market and workplace policies;
- Legal migration, which can be enabled if necessary and be in full complementarity to harnessing talents from within the EU.
To highlight the impact of demographic changes, Dubravka Suica, Visa-President for Democracy and Demography, pointed out that the phenomenon profoundly impacts societies and economies.
With demographic change becoming so tangible, there is a sense of urgency to act also on the European level so that it does not become an obstacle to the EU’s economic growth and competitiveness!
She pointed out that the toolbox aims to empower all generations and leads the way for the right mix of skills and talents across the EU Member States.
According to a Eurobarometer survey on demography, seven in ten Europeans agree that demographic trends are threatening the EU’s economies and competitiveness.
Population ageing is the main demographic challenge that is putting at risk the EU’s economy, with 42 per cent of respondents claiming so, while another 40 per cent said that the shrinking of the working-age population and labour shortages could be one of the reasons.
Data by Eurostat, the EU Statistics Office, reveals that countries with the highest job vacancy rate in the EU in 2023 were the Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria- having 4.7, 4.6, and 4.4 per cent job vacancy rates in the third quarter of the year, respectively.
The same source reveals that half of the EU’s population is older than 44.4 years, with some countries like Italy’s population over 65 years old compared to the other group of people aged between 15 and 64, having a difference of 37.5 per cent.
This means that older people outnumber those aged between 15 and 64, while this is the case also for many other countries, including Finland (37.4 per cent), Portugal (37.2 per cent), and Greece (35.6 per cent).
With the EU’s population ageing and the fertility rate decreasing, the labour force is in danger, as well as many other aspects, such as increasing pressure on public budgets, while having a profound impact on investments and productivity.
