GARY DUGAN: THE ECONOMICS OF AGEING

Opportunities for Ageless Societies

The economic benefits to the global economy from ageless societies cannot be overstated. A focus on enabling older people to continue to contribute to society and the economy can only be a positive outcome. In pure economic terms older people can be part of a solution for labour shortages of labour and specific skills. Resourcing efforts to encourage older people to stay healthy in body, mind and spirit is a part solution for mounting health costs. Initiatives that position older people as an opportunity, rather than a burden, can only be additive to the global growth and societal wellbeing.

We see at least three potential benefits:

1. The maintenance of someone's contribution to global output beyond the conventional retirement ages.
2. The potential for older people to retrain and learn the skills that can fill the vacancies in the labour market.
3. Maintaining an individual's mental ability to forestall physical deterioration and becoming less of a drain.

We would hope that older people can make their contribution to improving the productivity growth of an economy. Indeed, there is a building body of evidence from Japan that motivated older people can contribute to improved productivity at the country level. Despite an ageing population, Japan's productivity growth between 2010 and 2017 has surpassed that of the United States, UK and France.

There are cultural differences between the western countries and Japan but with the right motivation we suspect western elderly people can become more substantial economic contributors to their respective countries.