Ageing and worker displacement

Workers who lose their job often experience substantial earnings losses and persistent unemployment, and for older workers the consequences are typically worse than for younger workers. Decarbonisation and advances in artificial intelligence and automation are reshaping labour markets by driving demand for new skills while phasing out traditional jobs in carbon-intensive and automation-susceptible sectors. Concurrently, demographic shifts, characterised by increased life expectancy and declining fertility rates, are contributing to an ageing workforce, with those aged 45 and older making up a growing proportion of the global workforce. Together, these global shifts make the prospect of displaced workers an ever more significant concern and necessitate sustained efforts to ensure older workers remain in productive employment. This requires efforts to mitigate the negative impacts of job displacement through the use of active labour market policies to enhance job search, skills and training to facilitate reemployment. At the same time a broad range of proactive polices aimed at improving their employability through better quality jobs and lifelong learning as well as combatting age discrimination can play a role in retaining workers in the labour force.