“Inequalities among older workers are redefining digitization processes, and this is not only true for the Czech Republic. The population is ageing, and even though there is a shortage of experienced workers in our country, companies are often looking for young workers believing that older people can no longer succeed in a digitised world,” said Martina Rašticová, Vice-Dean of the university’s Faculty of Business and Economics, who will lead the entire team of European scientists.
The project involves all European Union countries and some others. “I firmly believe that during these four years the project will involve all of Europe, stimulating discussions and research in every country. The result of our work will be policy recommendations on how to set up measures to remove inequalities caused by digitization at a later age. The project will also provide international data and comparisons,” Rašticová said.
According to the researchers, the situation in the Czech Republic is different from Iceland, for example, which is a leader in hiring older people. “The Icelandic employment rate for men aged 55 to 59 is about 90% and for women about 80%, the highest among European countries. In the Czech Republic, it is lower by a few percentage points, but in Slovakia, less than 70% of women in this age group go to work. The worst situation is in Greece, where the employment rate for women in this category is less than 40%,” said Martin Lakomý from the Department of Law and Social Sciences at the Faculty of Business and Economics.
The new project will cover more countries than the current EU-28, giving researchers more data for comparison than they have previously had in this field. “I expect we will reach 35-40 countries included in the research group,” said Professor Clary Krekula of Linnea University in Sweden, who is also involved in organising the project. For researchers from the Faculty of Business and Economics, this is the largest European project they will be involved in so far.
Contact for more information: doc. PhDr. Martina Rašticová, Ph.D., email: martina.rasticova@mendelu.cz, phone.: +420 773 504 508.