Opinions of registered unemployed women over 50 years of age about their non-placement in the labour market In every developed society, the aim is to create equal opportunities for all citizens, regardless of age, sex, race, and so on. The issue of equal opportunities is most often associated with the labour market. For older people, including women over the age of 50 who wish to work in the labour market, certain conditions should be created that allow them an equal status to other people.
The states of the European Union strive, in their employment policy, to enable workers of advanced age to continue working under satisfactory conditions.
Part of the International Action Plan on Ageing (1999, p. 6) also states that “older people should be able to continue income-earning work for as long as they want and as long as they are able to do so productively.” Unemployment, low employment and an inflexible labour market often prevent this and thus limit opportunities for individuals while depriving society of their energy and qualifications.
Balogová (2005, p. 90) states that unemployed older people of pre-retirement age in the Slovak Republic find it very difficult to find a new job. They are considered a high-risk group of unemployed people. Also, Law No. 5/20004 Z. z. on Employment Services, as amended by later regulations, states that older citizens over 50 are among the disadvantaged job-seekers on the labour market.
This category of citizens is the subject of interest for many labour-market employment analysts, who note that “the older a person is, the more rigid their habitual stereotypes are, and the harder and more slowly they adapt to new life situations. How far an older person can adapt to changed conditions and how they experience this depends on many factors. Alongside personality as the primary factor, various life circumstances, level of intelligence, social conditions and family circumstances come to the fore.” (Buchtová, 2001, p. 112)
Older people’s harder placement on the labour market is, according to Kucharčíková, caused by several factors, especially:
- worsened health status,
- lower level of attained education,
- lower professional and geographical mobility,
- lower willingness to retrain and acquire new knowledge and skills,
- deficiencies in computer use,
- slower adoption of the most modern technologies,
- more frequent workplace accidents. (Kucharčíková, 2003, pp. 42-47).
Aim and methodology
The high rate of long-term unemployment among women over 50 indicated the need to find out these women’s opinions about their non-placement in the labour market. We carried out the research at the Labour Office, Social Affairs and Family in Prešov in 2010. The basic population for our research comprised registered unemployed women over 50 in the registry of the Labour Office, Social Affairs and Family in Prešov. At the time of the research, there were 1,270 available unemployed women over the age of 50 in the registry. Because we had a sufficiently large sample, we chose a questionnaire method. We included 1,243 respondents in the sample, i.e. registered unemployed women over 50. Through increased effort, we managed to collect 1,118 questionnaires – 89.94%, of which 1,081 could be evaluated, which is 86.96%. The purpose of the research was to identify the views of registered unemployed women over 50 on their non-placement in the labour market. We formulated the hypothesis: Registered unemployed women over 50 can realistically assess the causes of their non-placement on the labour market. Respondents answered these questions, with response options: definitely yes, rather yes, rather no, definitely no.
- Do you consider refusal of a job offer to be a cause of your non-placement in the labour market?
- Do you consider lack of a foreign language to be a cause of your non-placement in the labour market?
- Do you consider lack of computer skills to be a cause of your non-placement in the labour market?
- Do you consider health problems to be a cause of your non-placement in the labour market?
- Do you consider being outside paid work for 12 months or more to be a cause of your non-placement in the labour market?
- Do you consider the absence of skills needed by employers to be a cause of your non-placement in the labour market?
- Do you consider low education to be a cause of your non-placement in the labour market?
- Do you consider lack of work experience to be a cause of your non-placement in the labour market?
Respondents expressed their opinions about job refusal, lack of foreign language, lack of computer skills, health reasons, long periods outside employment (12 months or more), reasons for absence of skills required by employers, reasons for low education and lack of practical experience. We obtained these responses from the respondents.
Research findings Refusal of employment Of the respondents, 120 answered definitely yes to job refusal as a cause of labour-market non-placement, i.e., 11.11%, and 82 respondents answered rather yes, which represents 7.59%. In the case of 233 respondents, i.e., 21.55%, the answer was rather no to job refusal as a cause of labour-market non-placement, and definitely no was answered by 646 respondents, which is 59.75%. From these views of unemployed women over 50 we may infer that for this category, job refusal is not a cause of their non-placement in the labour market.
Lack of a foreign language As a cause of labour-market non-placement due to not knowing a foreign language, 227 respondents answered definitely yes, representing 21.00%, and 187 answered rather yes, which is 17.30%. Rather no was answered by 294 respondents, representing 27.19%, and definitely no by 373 respondents, which is 34.51%. From these views, we can deduce that many of the surveyed respondents do not consider lack of a foreign language to be a cause of their non-placement in the labour market.
Lack of computer skills As a cause of labour-market non-placement due to lack of computer skills, 212 respondents answered definitely yes, representing 19.61%, and 263 answered rather yes, which is 24.33%. Rather no was answered by 247 respondents, i.e., 22.85%, and definitely no by 359 respondents, which is 33.21%. From these views, we can deduce that almost half of the surveyed respondents do not consider lack of computer skills to be a cause of non-placement, even though digital literacy is a necessity today. This can also be understood in light of the attained level of education in the sample and the related aspirations for jobs matching their educational and qualification level, meaning that employers do not require computer use.
Health problems As a cause of labour-market non-placement due to health problems, 303 respondents answered definitely yes, representing 28.03%, and 327 respondents answered rather yes, which is 30.25%. Rather no to this question was answered by 258 respondents, representing 23.87%, and definitely no by 193 respondents, which is 17.85%. From these views, we can deduce that more than half of the surveyed unemployed women over 50 consider health problems to be a cause of their labour-market non-placement.
Time outside employment (12 months or more) As a cause of labour-market non-placement due to long-term absence from employment, 285 respondents answered definitely yes, representing 26.36%, and 320 answered rather yes, which is 29.60%. Rather no was answered by 302 respondents, representing 27.94%, and definitely no by 174 respondents, i.e., 16.10%. From respondents’ views, we can sense that more than half of unemployed women recognize the severity of a long period outside the labour market.
Absence of skills for employers’ needs As a cause of labour-market non-placement for absence of skills needed by employers, 227 respondents answered definitely yes, representing 21.00%, and 277 answered rather yes, representing 25.63%. Rather no was answered by 311 respondents, representing 28.77%, and definitely no by 266 unemployed women, which is 24.60%. From these views we can deduce that this group of unemployed women does not consider lack of skills to be a cause of their non-placement, as if they do not realize that with long-term unemployment their skills and work habits deteriorate.
Low education As a cause of labour-market non-placement due to low education, 228 respondents answered definitely yes, representing 21.09%, and 375 answered rather yes, which is 34.69%. Rather no was answered by 272 respondents, which is 25.16%, and definitely no by 206 respondents, representing 19.06%. From these views, we may assume that respondents recognize the importance of education: the higher the education, the greater the chance of success on the labour market.
Lack of experience As a cause of labour-market non-placement due to lack of experience, 211 respondents answered definitely yes, representing 19.52%, and 329 answered rather yes, which is 30.43%. Rather no was the answer for this question by 251 respondents, which is 23.22%, and definitely no by 290 respondents, which is 26.83%. From respondents’ views it cannot be deduced unequivocally whether lack of experience is a cause of their unemployment, because almost half of respondents consider lack of experience to be a cause of failure on the labour market, while almost the other half do not consider lack of experience to be a deficit in obtaining employment.
The hypothesis that registered unemployed women over 50 can realistically assess the causes of their non-placement on the labour market was not confirmed. The surveyed respondents, that is, registered unemployed women over 50 do not see the causes of their non-placement in job refusal, in lack of a foreign language, in computer illiteracy, or in lack of skills for employers. They consider their health problems, 12 months or more outside work, and low education to be the cause of unemployment. It is regrettable that respondents did not make use of the possibility to justify their opinions, which may have been caused by a desire to fill out the questionnaire as quickly as possible and because formulating justification would have “delayed” respondents; given their educational composition, respondents with only basic education may also have had weaker communication skills.
Discussion
In our contribution, we analysed the opinions of registered unemployed women over 50 on their non-placement in the labour market. The goal of this contribution was to find the views of this age group of unemployed women regarding their unemployment and to indicate where they perceive the causes of their non-placement. Solving this complex problem of unemployment, not only for these women but also for other unemployed citizens, which appears in the economic and social sphere and, not least, in the personal sphere, requires whole-society involvement, because only comprehensive action in this area can produce the desired results. It is obvious that jobs will not be created by themselves; coordinated activity by employers and state institutions regulating and shaping the labour market is needed.
Cooperation between the entire public administration and other actors participating in the labour market must be significantly improved. So that problems with this age group are not repeated in the future, the educational system must also coordinate its development in close cooperation with employers and focus on study programmes that will remain attractive to the labour market for several years ahead. Above all, it is necessary to involve the unemployed themselves much more in these activities so they can approach the resolution of their life situation more actively and with a more realistic view of reality.
We hope that only through raising educational levels we can secure a sufficient supply of competitive labour. It will also be necessary to offer this age group of women over 50 opportunities for further labour-market preparation corresponding to their abilities and capacities, as well as based on genuine employer interest.
Conclusion
This issue is so complex that no simple and rapid solutions exist. But with coordinated work and gradually defined steps by all parties involved, the situation of this category—and of all unemployed people—can be solved, or at least improved, even if not completely. In Ageing of Society it is stated that older people, including unemployed women over 50, must be re-engaged in the labour market so they can contribute to society with their knowledge, experiences and humanity. (Hetteš, 2011, p. 13). According to Balogová (2005, p. 91), prevention of unemployment among older people in Slovakia should move toward supporting a change in employers’ attitudes to hiring older people, that is, creating a social climate in favor of the senior group. Creating greater labour-market flexibility would include home work, part-time work, fixed-term contracts, splitting one workplace among several employees, combining unemployment support and wages, tax relief for employers hiring seniors, and better conditions for seniors’ own entrepreneurship.
As we intend to continue focusing on this group of unemployed people, we plan to use a questionnaire to also address employers in the Prešov district and determine their interest in hiring unemployed women over 50 in employment relationships. If we manage to carry out this survey as well, we will have a coherent body of material on registered unemployed women over 50 with their attitudes and views, including employers’ attitudes toward employing this category of unemployed women in the Prešov district.
Author: PhDr. Anna Zákutná Biographical note: She completed university studies in Adult Education and Training at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Prešov. She worked in the social department of the District Office in Prešov and in the Prešov Labour Office, Social Affairs and Family in managerial positions. She is currently, as a project manager, responsible for social and educational projects at the City Office in Prešov. She studies in the external mode of doctoral studies at St. Elisabeth University of Health and Social Sciences in Bratislava. Reference list:
BALOGOVÁ, B. 2005. Seniors. Prešov: Akcent Print, p. 90. ISBN 80-969274-9-3. BUCHTOVÁ, B. et al.: Unemployment – a psychological, economic and social problem. Prague: Grada 2001, p. 112. ISBN 80-247-90006-8. KUCHARČÍKOVÁ, A. The macroeconomic problem of unemployment and unemployment of older people. In: Employment of unemployed older people on the Slovak labour market. Proceedings of a scientific seminar held on 28 April 2003. Bratislava: VÚPSVaR, 2003, pp. 42 - 47 ISBN 80-7138-114-4. Law No. 5/2004 Z. z. on Employment Services in the amended version of later provisions.