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“We need more good examples of companies taking action in facing the challenge of demographic change”, said Elke Maes of LBC-NVK and vice chair of the Insurance sector’s Social Dialogue committee, at a joint conference by the social partners of the insurance sector.

A booklet with good examples was presented at the conference, aiming at stimulating more companies to take action and provide for better work-life balance, lifelong learning opportunities and adequate health and safety measures. The booklet’s examples illustrate well the importance of a good cooperation between companies’ managements and employee representatives. This was also reflected in the panel discussions where representatives of both sides shared their experiences.

The booklet is based on the Joint Statement by the European insurance social partners of 2010. It is available on http://www.insuranceeurope.eu/ebook/ISSDC/#/10/



As a general introduction to the topic, Josef Wöss of the Austrian chamber of labour presented his approach on demographic change and showed that there is far more potential to be activated for the labour market than usually estimated. He pointed out that the right policy options must be chosen in order to manage demographic change – with better work-life balance, lifelong learning opportunities and adequate health and safety measures being key issues to tackle.

The Austrian chamber of labour’s approach has been taken into account in the recent White paper on pensions by the European Commission.

You can find more information in the ETUI’s briefing paper (available in EN, FR and DE):

http://www.etui.org/fr/Publications2/Policy-Briefs/European-Economic-and-Employment-Policy/Dependency-ratios-and-demographic-change.-The-labour-market-as-a-key-element