Age should not be a factor in workforce
THE ANSWER TO OUR WOES IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF US, PENSIONERS. NOT ONLY ARE THERE PLENTY OF SENIORS ABLE TO WORK, THEY ARE WILLING.
TYPE in the words “regional”, “labour” and “shortage” in Google and you’ll be inundated with stories of worker shortages from Katherine in the west to Geelong in the east.
From the abattoirs and dairy farms to local cafes, where there is such a shortage of decent baristas – some areas have even started offering $90,000 a year for someone just to make a decent cup of coffee.
Everywhere you look in the country areas, “help is wanted” and yet, according to the National Farmers’ Federation, the bush produces 40 per cent of Australia’s economic output and farmers put 90 per cent of our food on the table.
Getting the message through about the labour shortage gripping Australia is a bit like an annoying father with the usual routine of whether anyone in his family has seen his car keys when they are plain staring him in the face on the coffee table.
In other words, the answer to our woes is right in front of us, pensioners.
Not only are there plenty of seniors able to work, they are willing.
Did you know as many as one in five aged pensioners would consider it?
How do we know this? National Seniors asked them.
Our recent poll of almost 4000 older Australians revealed 20 per cent of those on the aged pension say they would consider a return to
work and 16 per cent have already done so.
Now given there are more than two and a half million older Australians on the pension, that would mean a boost to the workforce of more than 500,000 people.
Imagine that and imagine what that would mean for the labour shortage of 400,000 workers.
There’s just one problem, the government’s work test on the age pension limits the average pensioner to just one day’s work a week before they start losing their pension.
People on the pension are telling us they’d love to work, but fear losing their pension, and there’s all the paperwork that comes with working while on the pension.
These are just some of the
comments we received when we invited our respondents to comment on why they want to working whilst keeping the aged pension:
“Currently (my) only income is age pension and (I’m) in private rental, so it’s bloody tough!” wrote a 74-year-old.
“We have been scammed out of our retirement savings and despite my disability we need to find an income source”.
“My previous partner had a gambling problem,” wrote another. “So, I had to earn what my pension allowed me to cover living expenses, I have no superannuation to fall back on.”
“I’m desperate for money in order to pay my bills, rent and food.”
Money is not the only motivating
factor to get back into the workforce.
Many told us they wanted to work as a means of reconnecting to the community or just that a sense of fulfilment in making a difference:
Other survey respondents said they wanted to work.
“To help a farmer somewhere.”. “To support struggling small business operators”, or “to assist somewhere in an industry that is beneficial to the workforce.”
Our research over the past few years is littered with examples of older Australians who are working but want to do more but can’t because there is no incentive.
All this goes to show that while we as a society have changed, in terms of our life expectancy, our retirement
age and our ability to do work well into our 70s, it seems government policy hasn’t moved with us.
The aged pension was first designed and developed in Australia more than a hundred years ago and its acknowledged parts of it were modelled on the New Zealand scheme which is interesting, because today, all New Zealanders of the pension age are free to work as much as they want, without losing their pension. They just pay their share of income tax.
If Australia is the land of the “fair go”, then why can’t we give older Australians a go, and let pensioners work?