Publication

This paper asserts that improving employment rates is the best strategy with which countries can prepare for population aging. Europe’s budgetary situation would be significantly improved by achieving the employment target of the Europe 2020 strategy, with estimates presented suggesting that a staggering €1000 billion by 2020 is at stake. Further, the authors suggest that the short-term public finance argument should not be overemphasized. The scale of the positive mid-term impact of higher employment on both public budgets and the aging challenge implies that finance ministries should look at labor-market policy differently: not as a social outlay, but as an investment in the future which will provide significant returns.