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One challenge of rapidly aging societies is how to encourage
older workers to extend their working lives. In the session on
“Work and Retirement”,
John Giles
, Senior Economist at the
World Bank, described the labor supply and retirement situation
in East Asia. He presented evidence that the ability to draw a
pension is the strongest determinant of exit from work, health
status significantly affects retirement, and women’s labor supply
may be influenced by needs to care for the elderly or children. In
addition, spouses prefer to retire together, which has important
policy implications given the existing retirement age gap in many
countries.
Piotr Lewandowski
and
Iga Magda
of the Institute
for Structural Research in Poland introduced the experience of
Central and Eastern Europe. Opportunities for early retirement
led to falling labor force participation rates, a trend that reversed
once such options were eliminated and the retirement age
was gradually increased despite political opposition. They
argued that work incentives for older workers depend on the
interactive effects of the pension system, labor market policy,
and other social security programs, and that supportive actions
such as skill training and flexible work arrangements also are
important. Finally,
Robert Willis
of the University of Michigan
discussed how computerization has affected the employment of
older workers. A key issue is whether computers or other new
technologies are complements or substitutes for the skills of older
workers. He presented evidence that computerization induced
earlier retirement among middle-skilled workers but not for high-
skilled workers, and speculated that the effect could be weaker for
younger cohorts who had access to computers at earlier working
ages.
Providing adequate health care and long-term care also is a
major challenge for rapidly aging countries in Asia.
Aparnaa
Somanathan
, Senior Economist at the World Bank, reviewed
aging, health and long-term care (LTC) in East Asia & Pacific
region. She made policy recommendations for LTC provision,
suggesting that LTC should be separate from health care systems,
The world’s population is aging rapidly, especially in East
Asia. This demographic reality is creating numerous policy
challenges, especially in countries undergoing significant
social and economic changes. To discuss the most recent
policy-relevant research on the aging challenges confronting
countries in East Asia, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market
Studies (IEMS), in collaboration with the World Bank East Asia
and Pacific Region, organized a conference on “Challenges
of Population Aging in Asia” at The Hong Kong University
of Science and Technology. The conference featured world-
renowned experts on aging and participants from the US,
Japan, Korea, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore,
Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It featured sessions
on demographics and growth, work and retirement, elderly
well-being, health and long-term care, and pensions and social
protection. In each session, World Bank researchers presented
preliminary findings of a forthcoming World Bank report on
aging for discussion and feedback.
The conference commenced with a keynote speech on
“Survey Innovations for Aging in the 21st century” by
David Weir
, Director of the US Health and Retirement
Study (HRS) at the University of Michigan. He pointed out
the critical need for high-quality data to support research
that can inform policy-making, and the great value of
HRS-type longitudinal studies that collect in-depth data
on income and wealth, family support, and health. Such
surveys have developed innovative ways to measure wealth
(by asking questions in a way that is less sensitive), health
(e.g., biomarkers, DNA), and cognition (e.g., adaptive
tests of fluid intelligence that ask respondents to complete
number series). He explained how the combination of
these measures (cognition, family care, medical spending)
were essential for an influential study that estimated the
economic costs of dementia in the US.
CONFERENCE WITH WORLD BANK DISCUSSES CHALLENGES OF
POPULATION AGING IN ASIA
(2014. 04.14-16)
