The Older Worker and Working Conditions

An International Viewpoint

A group Swedish and British scientists say working conditions must be improved for older people if governments and companies are to persuade them to keep contributing to economic growth into their old age, according to. This is this was seconded by the keynote speaker at the National Workers’ Compensation Conference last week in Chicago, President of iii, in New York.

According to a Reuters report, researchers studied nearly 15,000 employees in France and discovered they felt increasingly less well in the years leading up to retirement, but dramatically better off after they stopped work — indicating they viewed work as harmful to their health.

The study, compiled from annual surveys of the workers’ self-rated health, found between the year prior to retirement and the year following retirement, the risk of workers indicating they were not well fell from 19% to 14% — a drop the researchers said corresponded to a gain in health of eight to 10 years.

Populations are aging across the developed world and a number of governments are already making moves toward increasing the age of retirement in an attempt to cope with the potential explosion in extra costs to health and social services.

A study by Danish researchers in October 2009 showed more than half of babies born in rich nations today will live to see their 100th birthdays — a trend meaning they are also very likely to have to work longer into old age. The study, published in The Lancet medical journal, used data from workers at a gas and electricity firm operating throughout France. (workersxzcompxzkit)

Compared with many employees worldwide, the workers retired early — from age 55 — and received good pensions of approximately 80% of their former salary. But the researchers said the “substantial improvements shown by most employees” indicated the results could apply to a large proportion of workers in developed countries, particularly those with good social security provision following retirement.

Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers’ Compensation costs, including airlines, health care, manufacturing, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He can be contacted at: Robert_Elliott@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.

TO DOWNLOAD OR LISTEN TO FREE FRAUD PREVENTION AUDIO PODCAST click here: http://www.workerscompkit.com/gallagher/mp3 By: Anthony Van Gorp, private investigator with 25 years experience.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker about workers’ comp issues.

©2009 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@WorkersCompKit.com