Sector Survey

The sector survey in 2022 is continuing its investigation from 2016 into employment opportunities for older people. The pandemic brought with it a labour-market crisis, which met with, amongst other things, short working hours and redundancies. It is therefore particularly interesting to see how the employment of older people in this crisis has developed.  

• The ageing working population in Germany is moving fast. 
• In addition, different sectors reactivated older people in the Corona crisis, while other sectors saw short-time work dominate their business. Unemployment also rose during Corona. 
• The sector survey in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry aims to examine the impact of the crisis on the employment of older workers.
• The initial hypothesis is that the Corona situation, the supply bottlenecks, which were particularly prevalent in the year 2021, and the rapid growth of digitalisation have accelerated the transition of older workers into retirement.

An online survey of several small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry is to determine how the employment situation of older people has changed during the crisis. Those responsible for Human Resources in small and medium-sized companies in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries as well as related sectors nationwide were surveyed. A similar survey was carried out by the IAB and the HdBA in 2016 in an economic environment marked by growth ("Einstellung und (Weiter)Beschäftigung Älterer in der Chemieindustrie", (employing and (further) employment of older people in the chemical industry) EBA I). 
Today we assume that the development in such sectors allows a differentiation of employment risks for older workers: for one, this concerns basic chemical products and for another, an assortment of medical products. In conjunction with the 2016 survey, comparisons can be drawn as to employment opportunities for older workers back in the days of increasing economic growth, and today's crises, marred by Corona and supply chain issues. The focus lies with changes, risks and opportunities in employing older workers as well as shifting problems and strategies in the management of ageing workers in companies.

• Labour participation for older people in Germany has increased dramatically in the last decade – as has the ageing working population overall. The labour force participation rate for older people in the 55-60 year-old category went from 70.3% in the year 2022 to 83.5 % in 2020, and for 60-65-year-olds, from 25.9% and 63.0%. The unemployment rate for older people (55 to under 65 year-olds) also decreased in the same period from 11.2 % to 3.2 % and was even lower before the pandemic.
• Data from the IAB control panel has shown for a while that only a small share of companies (in the year 2015 only 17%) in Germany implement age-appropriate measures. It has often been proven that the number of measures grows with the size of the company.
• What consequences can be expected with ageing workers and their increasing length of time still spent in companies? Small and medium-sized companies do not of course have the staff or the financial means that larger companies have, nor do they have the appropriately equipped Human Resources departments. Therefore, they face particular challenges when their workers begin to age.
• In the chemical industry, the Arbeitgeberverband (BAVC - Employers' Association) has signed several contracts with the responsible union (IGBCE) to do with demographic change. With these labour agreements, the sector takes on a pioneering role in Germany. As there are several tools in the agreements, it can be assumed that a lot of awareness of this topic will be raised, also in the SMEs.