|
Japan
EU and Japan are facing the same demographic changes
Mis en ligne le 28/01/2008
Although we may be far away, the biggest challenges facing both Japan and Europe today are remarkably similar. That is to say, how do we adapt to the huge changes in our countries brought about by globalization and by an aging population ?
Across most of the European Union, birthrates are low (currently an average of 1.5 children per woman), while life expectancy is rising for both men and women. More importantly the retirement of the so-called baby boom generation, so those born in the two decades after World War II, means that the European workforce is shrinking and fewer people will have to support an increasing number of pensioners. In Europe, we have clearly chosen to address the demographic challenge as an opportunity to support our economic and social prosperity, not as a threat. Studies show that Europeans would in fact like to have more children, so the real challenge is to how to make it easier for them to actually do so ! The European Union needs to make its educational systems and our work patterns more flexible. Increasingly women between 30 and 45 have to carry a triple burden : having children, making a career and taking care of aging parents. So we need to facilitate women's access to the labor market as well as their re-entry after having children. Also, we need to change our mind-set, so men and women share the burden equally. Countries, such as Sweden, Denmark, Finland or France, with family-friendly policies in areas such as equal access to employment, parental leave for men and women, equal pay, generally have higher birthrates and more women in work. They are also some of the best performing countries in terms of jobs and growth. Ensuring Europeans have the support they need to bring up a family, care for family members and pursue a successful career is crucial to the success of the EU's Lisbon strategy for Growth and Jobs. Japan is facing similar challenges with potentially dramatic consequences on the labor market. Between 2005 and 2030 the working population is forecast to fall by 7.8 percent. During the next EU-Japan Symposium, The two countries have a lot to share in their different approaches to a common challenge. (The Japan Times, 01/01/2008 : "EU and Japan's demographic challenge")
|