50 plus workers become more valuable

Many countries are at risk of having considerable lack of skilled workers and increased labor costs if they won't persuade older workers to stay and work beyond retirement age.

The research conducted by global consultancy Towers Perrin made an analysis and predicted that in almost nine years there will be 39 percent of the population in Group of Seven industrialized nations will be aged 50 or older. In 1996 there were only 30 percent of population aged 50 or more.

On the other hand, the percentage of people aged 15 to 49 years will drop from 51 percent in 1996 to 45 percent in nine years., according to the study.

It means that in the near future many companies will have a significant labor shortages while most of the qualified and experienced workers will be in retirement.

Lack of labor force together and not enough of qualified workers to replace those going to retirement will create a situation when employers will need to increase labor costs to hold the skilled workers.

The study suggests for employers to convince older workers stay at work longer. According to the survey, many older workers in industrialized countries such as Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States would not mind working beyond the retirement age.