Economics of age and employment: a comparative study of the experiences in New Zealand and in overseas countries in terms of: 1. A statistical analysis of the major characteristics of older workers, and of their employment activities in the New Zealand labour force; 2. A survey analysis of the factors influencing the supply of, and demand for these workers in Wellington

Abstract

In May, 1969, the Labour Committee of the National Development Conference recommended that research studies should be undertaken to estimate the extent of "deterrents to those (elderly people) who wish to continue working after retirement". Labour Committee Report to the Second Plenary Session (May, 1969) of the New Zealand National Development Conference. Recommendation 31, and paragraph 88). Note that instead of using the term "elderly people" I have chosen to use the term "older people", the definition and reason for which are being presented later in this Section. At the request of the Research and Statistics Section of the Labour Department, I started an exploratory research study The findings of this Study are presented in my paper : An Employment Analysis of older Workers in the New Zealand Labour Force (An Economics III Mini-thesis, unpublished, Department of Economics, V.U.W. 1969) into the possible nature and extent of these problems in Wellington. The definition for "Wellington" will be given later in the Section. This study, based on a supply-demand approach, This market approach to the supply of and demand for older workers is based on the U.S. experience discussed in M. J. Brennan and others (1967, Chapter 4) involved an Interview Survey of 26 major business firms in Wellington; conducted with the help of the Labour Department, this caee study was intended to explore possible demand factors that may influence an older worker's decision to work or not. Included in the exploratory study also was a Postal Survey conducted with the co-operation of the Social Security Department; questionnaires were posted to retired older workers aged 60-69, attempting to explore possible supply factors that may deter them from continuing or resuming work.