Study says
aging workers less productive
The Globe and Mail
By VIRGINIA GALT
WORKPLACE REPORTER
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - Page B9
Baby boomers are now in their prime productive years, but inevitably, they
will slow down, posing "ominous implications" for Canadian
productivity and living standards, according to a C.D. Howe Institute study
released yesterday.
Citing "a strong negative association between an elderly work force and
labour productivity," analyst Yvan Guillemette said policy makers will
have to find ways to offset the drag exerted by
Not only are employees in their 60s "the least productive of all," he wrote, they also save less, reducing the pool of capital available for business investment.
There is nothing policy makers can do about demographics, the institute said
in its report, Slowing Down With Age: The Ominous
Implications of Workforce Aging for Canadian Living Standards. However, "a
policy environment that encourages saving and capital accumulation may help
avoid the potential lowering of living standards that
Mr. Guillemette wrote that productivity is projected to increase "until the year 2007, while baby boomers are still in their prime productive years, then decline."
The wave of retirements over the next 10 years and projected labour shortages will hurt productivity. But the increasing share of older workers in the labour force will also be a factor, he wrote.
"So it is no quick cure to suggest that all we need to do is convince older workers to increase the number of hours they work, or stay in the work force longer . . . because a higher share of low-productivity workers would now be part of the work force."
In any event, Mr. Guillemette added, the trend has been toward earlier retirement.
Canadian immigration rates might also rise, he wrote, but not enough "to bring about modest shifts in the proportion of older people.
"Moreover,