David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 108: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the efforts his Department is making to encourage older persons to re-enter the workforce; the barriers older persons face when attempting to rejoin the workforce; the supports and services available to these persons to assist with labour force re-entry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37920/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The number of older workers in employment has increased by 33% over the past ten years and the employment rate now stands at close to 51%. This is above the EU target of 50% to be reached by 2010. This increase was mostly due to those outside the workforce returning to employment. In addition, the average exit age from the labour force is now the highest in the EU at 64.4 years.

Government policy is to facilitate those who wish to extend their working lives to do so. A number of measures are in place to ensure that the participation of older workers in the labour market continues to improve. Equality legislation safeguards older workers from discrimination in the labour market and the Equality Authority makes employers aware of the benefits of employing older people through age awareness campaigns. In addition, a guide, which provides advice on attracting and retaining older workers, is made available to employers by IBEC.

Inflexible working arrangements can encourage early retirement and also discourage older workers who have retired from coming back into the workforce. Work-life balance policies are helpful in attracting older workers into the labour market and in this regard, the National Framework Committee for Work Life Balance, comprising represetatives of Departments, the social partners and the Equality Authority, support and facilitate the development of work-life balance policies at the level of the enterprise.

The likelihood of re-entering employment is strongly influenced by educational attainment levels and length of time out of employment. In this regard, investment in measures to develop the skills and working capacity of workers is being increased.

The OECD has recently undertaken a review of policies in relation to older workers in Ireland and this report was formally presented yesterday. Its findings and recommendations will be central to our consideration of what further actions are required to encourage greater labour force participation by older workers.