Bogusława Urbaniak

Determinants Of Healthy Ageing For Older People In European Countries – A Spatio-Temporal Approach

Abstract The European Commission (EC) has identified active and healthy ageing (AHA) as a major societal challenge mutual to European countries. This issue has increased in importance due to the progressive ageing observed in European societies, that force authorities to take initiatives for support the activity of the elderly. One of the initiatives, widely recognised is The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, which strive to enabling EU citizens to lead healthy, active and independent lives while ageing. The positive effect of actions for the AHA will be extension of the life in good health duration of EU citizens by two years by 2020. This is an important issue, as in 2013, women who have reached the age of 65 years in UE28 were facing on average 21.3 years of further life years and only 8.6 years (on average this amounted for 40.4 % of life expectancy) accounted for living in health, whereas for males, this ratio was estimated on 8.5 years in health of the anticipated further 17.9 years (47.5% of further life duration). Life expectancy in good health in older age is influenced by many different factors, i.e. cultural, social, economic and accessibility to health services and the quality of provided treatment. The last aspect is related to both the economic development of the country and the health care system management. The significant factor that has been increasingly emphasised in documentation of World Health Organisation or European Commission, concerns the investment in public and individual health. Taking into account the multivariate impact of objective and subjective factors on life expectancy in good health of elderly, the Authors decided to conduct the multidimensional comparative analysis for EU countries, including Norway, Switzerland and Iceland as well. Among the objective factors Authors distinguished: proportion of population (men and women) aged 65 years and more, economic development of the countries measured by GDP per capita, healthy life years expectancy in absolute values for males and females at 65 years, health care expenditures in PPS per inhabitant aged 65+, whereas the group of subjective characteristics consisted of: self-perceived health for people aged 65+ and self-reported unmet needs for medical services. The article aims to investigate the relationship between the length of the further life in healthy for men and women aged 65 years and selected factors in European countries in the period 2005-2012. For this purpose, following methods were used: 1/ spatial distribution of characteristics - rates of change in selected periods: 2005 and 2012, 2/ tests for dependencies using correlograms and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients, 3/ cluster analysis: on the basis of Ward’s methods spatial similarities (among countries) were indicated. As the source of data the Eurostat database were used.

Support for Economic Activity of People Aged 50+ in Poland: The Best Solutions of the Government’s Programme Solidarity of Generations

Abstract The article aims to assess some selected solutions of the Polish government’s programme “Solidarity of generations” [SG] designed to support economic activity among people aged 50+. It presents the results of a national survey conducted in the first half of 2012, mainly the outcomes of questionnaire interviews carried out with representative samples of people aged 45+ and employers. Studies under the name ‘Diagnosis of the current situation of females and males 50+ on the labour market in Poland [D50+]’ were conducted within the project “Equal Opportunities in the Labour Market for People Aged 50+”. In addition to standard methods of descriptive analysis and the assessment of relations, factor analysis is also used to identify the main types of activities advancing opportunities for people aged 45+. Some solutions of the government’s programme, such as the protection of employees from dismissal during the last four years before their retirement, were sometimes evaluated very differently by employers and people aged 45+. At the same time, both employers and people aged 45+ were favourable about free training and public subsidies to set up jobs for an unemployed persons aged 50+. According to the factor analysis results, the most important activities for people aged 45+ to have equal opportunities in the labour market are those activities that directly improve their qualifications. Although this finding is endorsed by both employers and people aged 45+, the insufficient systemic support for life-long learning limits the number of opportunities they could use to increase their employment activity. The variety of evaluations presented by the beneficiaries of the government programme should be taken into account in planning its modification. Streszczenie Celem artykułu jest ocena skuteczności wybranych rozwiązań zaproponowanych w rządowym programie Solidarność pokoleń [SG] dedykowanym wsparciu aktywności zawodowej osób 50+. W artykule zaprezentowano wyniki ogólnokrajowych badań przeprowadzonych w I poł. 2012 r., w tym przede wszystkim badań kwestionariuszowych przeprowadzonych na reprezentatywnych próbach osób w wieku 45+ oraz pracodawców. Badania pt. Diagnoza obecnej sytuacji kobiet i mężczyzn 50+ na rynku pracy w Polsce [D50+] zostały zrealizowane w ramach projektu Wyrównywanie szans na rynku pracy dla osób 50+. Poza standardowymi metodami analizy deskryptywnej i oceny współzależności, zastosowano analizę czynnikową celem wskazania głównych kierunków działań sprzyjających wyrównywaniu szans osób w wieku 45/50+ na rynku pracy w Polsce. Rozwiązania ujęte w programie rządowym, jak np. wprowadzenie okresów ochronnych przez zwolnieniem z pracy pracowników na 4 lata przed nabyciem praw do emerytury, spotykały się niekiedy z krańcowo różną oceną przez pracodawców i osoby 50+. Zarówno pracodawcy, jak i osoby w wieku 45+ wysoko oceniają bezpłatne szkolenia czy dofinansowanie ze środków publicznych wyposażenia miejsca pracy dla bezrobotnego 50+. W świetle analizy czynnikowej, dla wyrównywania szans osób w wieku 45/50+ na rynku pracy zasadnicze znaczenie odgrywają te działania, które bezpośrednio przyczyniają się do zwiększenia kwalifikacji osób w wieku 45/50+. Pracodawcy i osoby w niemobilnym wieku produkcyjnym są zgodni w tym zakresie, lecz niedostatek systemowego wsparcia edukacji ustawicznej dla osób w wieku 50+ osłabia możliwości wzrostu ich aktywności zawodowej. Zróżnicowane oceny mogą być wzięte pod uwagę przy modyfikacji programów wsparcia aktywności zawodowej 50+.