Workforce aging and decent work in the era of the digital economy – towards a holistic public policy approach

Abstract

The aging of populations and the labour force, combined with the process of digitalisation, have a significant impact on labour markets, employment, and labour rights worldwide. Industries and jobs that rely on age-appreciating skills, which improve with age, are positively affected by both aging and digitalisation, since automation compensates for the lower physical abilities of older workers, thereby increasing their productivity. On the other hand, automation threatens physical and routine jobs that require low skills. In this paper, the authors used an empirical approach and inductive method to analyse the simultaneous influence of aging and digitalisation on workforce skills and demand for employees. In the future, governments’ efforts to stimulate employment and decent work should include providing high-quality education that prepares the workforce to gain and upgrade creative and social skills. These changes require policy and regulatory interventions to address the issues of skill shifts and the transition towards both digital and green economies, while simultaneously promoting and standing for decent work conditions. This presupposes that businesses introduce and adopt sustainable, dynamic, and inclusive workplace practices. The authors propose the age management mechanism as a human resource tool, as well as its legal counterpart, the age-responsible due diligence approach, for managing the necessary changes.