Ageing and the Public Service; Human Resource Challenges

An ageing population creates immediate pressures for changes in both service delivery and human resources management in government. It affects workforce reallocation across sectors, acts as an impetus for the reorganisation of social service delivery between the public and private sectors, and demands an increase in government productivity to face increased fiscal demands. In parallel, government workforces are ageing even more rapidly than the rest of society. This raises specific challenges and opportunities. An ageing public service increases fiscal burdens while decreasing immediate capacities to deliver services. In the long run, however, it also offers a strategic opportunity to downsize the public sector workforce if necessary and to change employment conditions and the management of government employees where this is deemed reasonable. This book reviews the experience of 9 OECD member countries in this field. It presents some conclusions on strategies that countries could implement in order to adjust their human resource policies to the wider ageing challenge.