Managing the Ageing Workforce: Some Insights from the Jamaican Experience

• Author: Denise Eldemire-Shearer
• Pages: 127-137

127

CARIBBEAN HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Managing the Ageing Workforce:

Some Insights from the

Jamaican Experience

Ageing is a process that all living organisms have to go through. While,

ageing is inevitable, the chronic disabling physical and social conditions

that can accompany it are preventable. For this, if for no other reason, it is

important to focus attention on the ageing process. However, a related

consideration, which is often overlooked, is that ageing is not just a physical

phenomenon but has social, psychological and economic dimensions as well.

It is the balance of these factors, interacting together, which determines whether

or not an individual experiences successful ageing. The economic context in

which ageing takes place, for example, is of critical importance, one aspect of

this economic context, is the work environment.

In this chapter, I will examine ageing and its relationships to the

workplace. I begin by examining some broad considerations relating to ageing

in general and to the demographics of ageing in the Jamaican context. I then

turn to consider some of the key workforce implications of ageing. This

discussion covers three central issues: health, the economic dimensions of

ageing and the social dimensions of ageing. A brief discussion of issues relating

to the age of retirement is carried out and then the chapter ends with some

general conclusions and recommendations about health and work.

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Discussions of the ageing of the population often focus on a picture of

feeble dependent old people unable to contribute much to the society, to

their families or to their own well-being. This is not an accurate picture of old

age and the older population, and a focus on ageing will not only help to

clarify this misleading picture, but to direct attention to the factors that must

be considered if we are to promote successful ageing among a larger proportion

of the population.

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