Older persons on the Austrian and Hungarian labour markets
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Date
2017
Authors
Kovács, Előd
Barta, Györgyi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Research Institute
Abstract
In the last few decades the narrowing of the labor markets of the developed countries - caused by the continuous technological developments and by the millions of workplaces deployed into the developing world - became a well-known phenomenon. This is also the main reason why the demand for older persons as workforce has fallen back. And even worse, the drop in demand did not happen wellproportioned, but rather more drastically than in other age groups. For the employers age plays namely a key role: younger people are mostly higher motivated, can be influenced and custom tailored easier and are more likely willing to take jobs, which older persons cannot accept due to different reasons and health issues. Older persons have an out-of-date knowledge compared to the younger people, they are less willing to take part in trainings and courses, whereas on the other hand many of themare protected by law due to their age, and they usually also spend more time on sick leave. On the whole for the employers older employees are not the best selection in general. In our paper the status of older persons on the labor markets of two neighbouring countries namely Hungary and Austria are being compared. Austria is a successful member of the European Union, with dynamic development figures. Its population is growing and due to the continuously rising number of work related young migrants coming to the country Austria is less endangered by the aging itself. Its welfare system enables the introduction and maintenance of a generous retirement system. Hungary in fact is a much poorer country than Austria. The completely different type of system settled in Hungary in the times of socialism has left as heritage a very diverse labor market compared to that of the countries of the western world. The transition period has brought a mass unemployment and demanded special solutions from the state. Due to the fact that the Austrian wages and social welfare systems are much better that those in Hungary, the complete opening of the Austrian labor market has interfered in a very interesting way. Out of the estimated 500 thousand (World Bank, 2011) Hungarians working abroad over 80 thousand Hungarians are already legally working in Austria, which – together with the growing mobility and willingness ofHungarians to migrate abroad in general – has resulted in the lack of workforce in Hungary, which can be recognized in Western-Hungary the most. The lack of - mainly educated - workforce might give a new chance for the older persons as well. Using the official statistics and publications related to the Austrian and Hungarian labor markets we intend to give an insight into the current situation.
Description
Keywords
munkaerőpiac , munkaerőpiac - Ausztria , idősgondozás
Citation
Karlovitz J. (szerk.) Essays in Economics and Business Studies. Komárno: International Research Institute, 2017. pp. 121-136.
(ISBN:978-80-89691-42-5)