Industrial employment prospects in ageing economies. A comparison of Japan and Australia

Ewa Orzechowska-Fischer, Australian Bureau of Statistics

Population ageing is a demographic trend, that has recently received significant attention of labour market analysts in developed countries. The critical question they ask is: How will the shift to stagnant and declining share of supply of young, new entrants to the labour market and an unparalleled growth in the proportion of workers aged 55+ affect the employment prospects in particular industries? This study addresses this question. It assesses past and future projected effects of the changes in the labour force age profile on industrial employment prospects in Japan and Australia. The major finding is that population ageing affects various industries differently. While some industries have pronounced preference for young workers and are the most negatively affected by population ageing, other seem to adapt to the aged labour force structure and replace younger with older workers.