Towards Age-Friendly Work in Europe: A Life-Course Perspective on Work and Ageing from EU Agencies

[Excerpt] The European population is ageing owing to decreasing birth rates and increasing longevity. Population ageing is associated with a decrease in the size and ageing of the workforce. The majority of the EU Member States have reacted to this development by, among other measures, increasing retirement ages and limiting early access to pensions. Nevertheless, a large percentage of workers in the EU do not stay in employment until the official retirement age. The reasons for this are diverse, and will be examined in more detail in this report. Policy-makers are faced with the challenge of addressing this demographic change and its implications for employment, working conditions, living standards and the sustainability of welfare states. The working conditions of older workers and their participation in the labour market are affected by various policy areas (see also Table 1). This report aims to outline various aspects of the working conditions of the ageing workforce and related policies

Skills in the green economy: recycling promises in the UK e-waste management sector

In advanced economies the ‘greening’ of the economy is widely seen as promising extensive job creation and upskilling, alongside its other benefits. In popular and policy rhetoric, the growing importance of ‘green skills’ is asserted frequently. This paper critically examines these claims within the context of the electronic waste management sector in the UK. Drawing on the cases of a non profit organisation and a small private enterprise in North West England, we observe that despite government support for developing skills in e-waste, both the development and utilisation of skills remain minimal. Critically, the relatively more skill-intensive process of reuse is substantially less profitable than recycling and resource capture. The paper concludes by noting that the expectations from the green economy for high quality jobs need to be assessed within the context of similar, misplaced celebrations of previous transformations of work in order to avoid recycling the same promises

Assessment of human resources for health using cross-national comparison of facility surveys in six countries

Abstract Background Health facility assessments are being increasingly used to measure and monitor indicators of health workforce performance, but the global evidence base remains weak. Partly this is due to the wide variability in assessment methods and tools, hampering comparability across and within countries and over time. The World Health Organization coordinated a series of facility-based surveys using a common approach in six countries: Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Jamaica, Mozambique, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. The objectives were twofold: to inform the development and monitoring of human resources for health (HRH) policy within the countries; and to test and validate the use of standardized facility-based human resources assessment tools across different contexts. Methods The survey methodology drew on harmonized questionnaires and guidelines for data collection and processing. In accordance with the survey's dual objectives, this paper presents both descriptive statistics on a number of policy-relevant indicators for monitoring and evaluation of HRH as well as a qualitative assessment of the usefulness of the data collection tool for comparative analyses. Results The findings revealed a large diversity in both the organization of health services delivery and, in particular, the distribution and activities of facility-based health workers across the sampled countries. At the same time, some commonalities were observed, including the importance of nursing and midwifery personnel in the skill mix and the greater tendency of physicians to engage in dual practice. While the use of standardized questionnaires offered the advantage of enhancing cross-national comparability of the results, some limitations were noted, especially in relation to the categories used for occupations and qualifications that did not necessarily conform to the country situation. Conclusion With increasing experience in health facility assessments for HRH monitoring comes greater need to establish and promote best practices regarding methods and tools for their implementation, as well as dissemination and use of the results for evidence-informed decision-making. The overall findings of multi-country facility-based survey should help countries and partners develop greater capacity to identify and measure indicators of HRH performance via this approach, and eventually contribute to better understanding of health workforce dynamics at the national and international levels.</p