Europe: Consultation Opens on Designating 2012 Year for Active Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity

Following on April's conference on intergenerational solidarity, the European Commission has been receiving calls to organize a European Year for Active Ageing and Intergenerational Solidarity. The purpose would be to increase the awareness of the contribution of older people to society and spread innovative measures that could help to mobilize the full potential of the ageing baby-boom cohorts.

Accordingly, it has launched a consultation with the purpose to collect ideas and suggestions from key stakeholders and experts on how to achieve the greatest possible impact with such a European Year and to help the Commission decide whether and how to organize a European Year. There are separate questionnaires for citizens, organizations, and public authorities. Responses to the questionnaire, which is meant to help respondents in structuring their response to this consultation and the Commission in analyzing the responses, should be submitted by the 31st of July 2009, preferably in English, French or German.

Source: European Commission News Release (July 17, 2007)

Study: Younger Workers Hurt More by Recession; Older Workers Show Resilience

According to a study published by Boston College's Sloan Center on Aging & Work, younger workers are bearing the brunt of the current economic crisis, while older employees show greater resiliency in a recession-battered workplace where employers seek to do more with less. Specifically, in "The difference a downturn can make: Assessing the Early Effects of the Economic Crisis on the Employment Experiences of Workers", while researchers found employees of all ages reporting a drop in employee engagement (a measure of how invested and enthusiastic employees are in their work),

Workers among "Generation Y" – ages 26 and younger – report the greatest decrease in engagement. Those slightly older workers in "Generation X" – ages 27 to 42 – reported less of a decrease, while Baby Boomers and older "Traditionalists" – ages 43 or older – reported that their levels of engagement hardly changed at all.

Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, director of the Center, suggests that "[s]ome older workers have been through recessions before and that gives them experiential resilience." Furthermore, she comments that "[s]avvy employers will leverage older workers' experience to help younger workers manage through turbulence," and "hat sense of resilience can help organizations remain energized and passionate."

Source: Sloan Center on Aging & Work Stages (June 2009)