The Impact of Demographic Changes on Labor Supply. Main Facts and Trends

The deceleration of labor supply growth in the late 1990s is linked with the aging of the work force. The process of aging raises macroeconomic as well as microeconomic policy issues. The macroeconomic issues are linked to the rise in transfer costs of an increasing proportion of retired elderly relative to the active work force. The microeconomic issues refer to the need for policy response in the face of fundamental changes in the organization of work, which affect the core functional mechanisms of the labor market. All age groups will have to adapt to the complex changes under way. Population aging is just an additional aspect in the challenge of institutional and regulatory reform. It has an impact on pay and promotion systems, insider-outsider problems, welfare and training systems.