Enhancing productivity and growth in an ageing society
Key mechanisms and policy options
The increase in human longevity is a major achievement, which brings individual well-being
and strong contributions to society, but population ageing also generates challenges.
This paper documents demographic trends in OECD countries, highlighting that ageing
today largely reflects past fertility, longevity, and migration developments. Policies
have moderate or delayed impacts on population ageing, hence they should also focus
on adapting to ongoing demographic trends. The paper quantifies ageing’s potential
impacts on labour supply and GDP per capita, showing that the extension of working
lives as longevity rises could mitigate, but not completely offset, the negative effects
of ageing on employment. It also examines how ageing may affect productivity through
various micro and macroeconomic mechanisms. Finally, it provides policy directions
for addressing the ageing challenge, through supporting healthy ageing, boosting employment,
job quality and labour mobility in all age groups, and promoting older workers’ productivity
by further developing lifelong learning and fostering an age-friendly management culture.
Available from June 14, 2024
In series:OECD Economics Department Working Papersview more titles