The demographic developement in Europe and the impact on workforce

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, University of Cologne, language: English, abstract: Demographic change, the "war for talent", global competition - key words that companies should seriously deal with. Whether in trade magazines, regional newspapers, Internet articles and television news - in all media the issues of demographic change and shortage of skilled labor are omnipresent. The population in Europe is growing older due to the high living standards, while the birth rate is alarming low1. The population of working age will be strongly influenced by the older workers and decline in the longterm period from 2015 on2. Due to quantitative and qualitative imbalances in the labor market in many industries qualified young professionals are missing, while the in-house workforce is getting older continuously.

Demographic change and the resulting consequences for companies are often underestimated or ignored. Companies should have taken precautions much earlier.

Strong action is required now. But how can companies overcome the "demographic gap"?

The aim of this paper is to analyze demographic changes and their impacts on the labor markets. The paper will begin with brief r e view of Europe¿s demographic development and its driving forces followed by an overview of different proposed countermeasures to prevent the consequences of demographic change.

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1 Euröpäisches Statistikamt (eurostat) online: Fewer, older and multicultural? Projections of the EU populations by foreign/national background (2012), P. 5

2 eurostat online: National reports on the demographic developments in 2010 (2012 edition)0