REVEALED: The ticking timebomb facing Eurozone economies no one has thought about
THE eurozone’s economic growth is set for another blow in the coming years, as its ageing workforce is a crisis in waiting, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.
By LANA CLEMENTS
Express.co.uk
Thu, Aug 18, 2016
On top of high unemployment and huge debt levels, policymakers could have to deal with tumbling productivity from workers, according to research by the Washington-based fund.
It is already known the number of eurozone retirees compared to people of working age is on track to ballon over the next couple of decades – putting a larger strain on state resources.
But the IMF has now sounded the alarm over the rising age of workers.
And it warned the issue is most likely to impact countries where the economy is already at breaking point, including Greece, Italy and Portugal and Spain.
The fund said the frailer health and out-of-date skills of older workers over 50 has been found to hinder their productivity.
Overall the IMF forecast the amount of workers between the age of 55 and 64 in the bloc to increase by a third over the next two decades.
Alarmingly, a five percentage point increase in the share of workers within this sector is linked to a fall in productivity of about three per cent, the IMF found.
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