50.1% of people employed in Spain are over 45 years old, 10 points more than ten years ago, reflecting the process of gradual aging of the working population in Spain in recent years.
According to the latest data from the Active Population Survey (EPA), 10.8 million employed people were over 45 years oldwhich represents half of a labor market of 21.6 million inhabitants. Ten years ago, with data from the second quarter of 2014, this group of employed people represented 7.1 million out of a total of 17.3 million, or a weight of 40.9%.
In detail by age, the The largest increase occurred in the 55 to 59 age group which added a million employed people, up to 2.5 million, reaching the highest levels in the series.
Among people aged 50 to 54, the increase was 873,000 employed people, thus setting a record and exceeding for the first time the mark of 3 million employed people in the series started in 2002. Employed people between 45 and 45 years old are also the most numerous. the highest in the series and 49 years which is around 3.3 million.
They are duplicated in the private sector
Depending on employer type, while workers over 50 in the public sector increased by around 467,000 people, those in the private sector almost doubled, from 3.5 million in 2014 to more than 6 million This year.
As with older employees, younger workers, those under 25, have increased their presence in the labor market over the past ten years, from 741,800 in mid-2014 to 1.3 million this year.
It is in the intermediate range, those between 25 and 45 years old, in which a lesser presence on the market is reflected of work since, even if in certain age groups the number of employed people has increased over the last decade, its weight in the total is decreasing due to general employment growth.
This greater presence of over 45s on the labor market responds, on the one hand, to an increase in the number of people in this age group, which over the last ten years has gone from 44.8% to the total Spanish population at 50% currently.
But also to the measures adopted in recent years aimed at bringing the effective retirement age (65.2 years) closer to the legal age (66 years and 6 months), to penalize early retirement and to encourage delay in retirement and the compatibility between employment and retirement.
Productivity risks
The Bank of Spain illustrated this trend in a recent report: the weight of workers under 35 increased from 46.3% in 2005 to 28.6% in 2022, while that of older groups has not stopped growing.
“Aging is happening very quickly and affects sectors, occupations, regions and companies of different sizes.“, reflected Funcas in an analysis in which they highlighted the “profound consequences on the composition of the productive fabric, overall employment and productivity growth” that this implies.
This same report emphasizes that it is not possible to reverse these changes, reflecting demographic developments, in the short term and that only a considerable increase in immigration can slow down, albeit to a lesser extent, the aging of the population. the active population.
The Bank of Spain has also warned of the consequences of this aging of the labor market, which also reduces professional transfers and mobility, and of the need to take measures.
Without corrective measures, they warn, this change will hamper the processes of sectoral and professional reallocation of workers necessary for the digital and energy transitions and productivity growth.
Value of senior talents
In this context, it is important to promote senior talents. Reports from IMSERSO, the Adecco Foundation and the Endesa Foundation confirm the perception of a age discrimination in the workplace.
They warn of a lack of recognition of the value of older workers’ experience and skills, as well as opportunities for entrepreneurship and equal access to the labor market for this group.
Recently, during the VII Meeting of Senior Economic Officials, the president of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, José Luis Bonet, and the president of 65YMÁS, Fernando Ónega, called on businesses and society in general to fight against “ the disease of ageism, which “pollutes the environment”. labor market and tarnishes the career paths (and even retirements) of tens of thousands of workers each year. »
