Abstract
The ageing population has become one of the major issues, with manifold consequences upon the economic welfare and elderly living standards satisfaction. This paper grasps an in‐depth assessment framework of the ageing phenomenon in connection with the labor market, with significant implications upon economic welfare, across the European Union (EU–27). We configure our research on four distinctive groups of the EU–27 countries based on the Active Ageing Index mapping, during 1995–2018, by acknowledging the different intensities of ageing implications on economic well‐being from one group of countries to another. The methodological endeavor is based on Structural Equation Modelling. Empirical results highlight that the ageing dimensions and labor market productivity notably shape the socioeconomic development of EU countries, visibly distinguished across the four panels. The economic development induced remarkable positive spillover effects on the welfare of older people, under the influence of the ageing credentials and dynamic shaping factors. Our research advances the literature underpinnings on this multifaceted topic by investigation made on specific groups of the EU countries and distinctive strategies proposed for each group of countries, as effective results for improving the well‐being of older people. Constant policy rethinking and adequate strategies should be a top priority for each specific group of EU countries, to further sustain the ageing phenomenon, with positive implications mostly on elderly welfare.
Highlights
We have accounted for the four panels of European Union (EU) Member States (MS) in our investigation, in order to propose a mix of specific policies and strategies for each group of countries, as Walker and Zaidi [17] recommended as effective results
To certify the results obtained, we first verified a series of particular tests, such as the Wald test for each equation (Table 2); the good-fit tests: likelihood ratio, information criteria, baseline comparison, and size of residuals which comprises the coefficient of determination (CD) (Table 3) point out over 90% and 80%, and the older people’s poverty level has been shaped by the considered variables
As regards the cumulative effects of the ageing workforce (ER_55_64) upon labor market productivity (LP), under the influence of considered economic and social factors, a positive impact was induced only for the EU–4 panel (Figure 5(d)). e updated results for the countries with the highest Active Ageing Index (AAI) scores are opposite to Cristea et al [5], which show unfavorable implications of older workforce insertion upon labor productivity
Summary
In all countries all over the world, the demographic studies entail that a series of societal challenges have emerged, where elderly cohorts are increasing at a steady pace and are expected to continue growing over the following decades [1].us, the ageing population, which means the increasing of life expectancy and decreasing of birth rates, has become a major issue, affecting the labor market equilibrium and, the welfare of older people, mainly, due to a weak viability and sustainability of the pension funds [2], health deterioration, or lower social involvement [3,4,5,6].As a result of these tendencies, the population composition has changed and, in the coming years, even more notable mutations are expected to occur, from the pyramidshaped frame, with the basis of people aged 0–16 years, more numerous than the people aged over 65, representing upper segments, to a representation of “a rectangular pattern” [7] (p. 4) [8]. Erefore, the ageing phenomenon and socioeconomic welfare approaches at the EU level have been highly debated previously within the literature, but their integrative impact has been less considered, as far as we know especially for the four specific groups of the EU Member States (MS). In front of these facts and challenges, the main aim of our paper is to assess the ageing phenomenon in connection with the labor market implications in terms of socioeconomic welfare within the EU–27 MS, widened with an in-depth analysis for the four distinctive EU–27 MS groups. We applied Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) for an integrative measurement approach (direct, indirect, and total) of the interlinkages between the ageing phenomenon and labor market factors (under the influence of specific selected economic and social variables) upon economic development and poverty alleviation of older people (65+). e analyzed period is 1995–2018
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