Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Feb 24;17(4):1439.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17041439.

The Impact of Population Aging and Public Health Support on EU Labor Markets

Mirela Cristea  1 , Gratiela Georgiana Noja  2 , Petru Stefea  3 , Adrian Lucian Sala  4
Affiliations

The Impact of Population Aging and Public Health Support on EU Labor Markets

Mirela Cristea et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Population aging and public health expenditure mainly dedicated to older dependent persons present major challenges for the European Union (EU) Member States, with profound implications for their economies and labor markets. Sustainable economic development relies on a well-balanced workforce of young and older people. As this balance shifts in favor of older people, productivity tends to suffer, on the one hand, and the older group demands more from health services, on the other hand. These requisites tend to manifest differently within developed and developing EU countries. This research aimed to assess population aging impacts on labor market coordinates (employment rate, labor productivity), in the framework of several health dimensions (namely, health government expenditure, hospital services, healthy life years, perceived health) and other economic and social factors. The analytical approach consisted of applying structural equation models, Gaussian graphical models, and macroeconometric models (robust regression and panel corrected standard errors) to EU panel data for the years 1995-2017. The results show significant dissimilarities between developed and developing EU countries, suggesting the need for specific policies and strategies for the labor market integration of older people, jointly with public health expenditure, with implications for EU labor market performance.

Keywords: European Union; econometric procedures; health expenditure; labor market policies; labor productivity; older workers.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1
GGMs (Gaussian graphical models), 1995–2017, extended Bayesian information criterion (EBIC), and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO): (a) EU-13; (b) EU-15. Source: Authors’ research in R.
Figure A1
Figure A1
GGMs (Gaussian graphical models), 1995–2017, extended Bayesian information criterion (EBIC), and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO): (a) EU-13; (b) EU-15. Source: Authors’ research in R.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Aging representative indicators, European Union (EU)-28, 2017: (a) Employment rate, 55–64 years (ER_55_64); (b) life expectancy (LE); (c) birth rate (BR). Source: Own process in Stata.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Health illustrative indicators, EU-28, 2017: (a) Health government expenditure (HGE); (b) hospital services (HS); (c) people (aged 16+) with good or very good perceived health (PGPH). Source: Own process in Stata.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Labor market-specific indicators, EU-28, 2017: (a) Labor productivity (LP); (b) active labor market policies (ALMP); (c) passive labor market policies (PLMP). Source: Own process in Stata.
Figure 4
Figure 4
General configuration of structural equation modeling (SEM). Source: Own contribution in Stata.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) for the EU-13 (a) and EU-15 (b) panels, 1995–2017. Source: Own contribution in Stata.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) for the EU-13 (a) and EU-15 (b) panels, 1995–2017. Source: Own contribution in Stata.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Gaussian graphical models (GGMs), 1995–2017, partial correlation (PCOR): (a) EU-13; (b) EU-15. Source: Authors’ research in R.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Börsch-Supan A., Chiappori P.A. Aging population: Problems and policy options in the US and Germany. Econ. Policy. 1991;6:104–139. doi: 10.2307/1344450. - DOI
    1. Coleman D. Population ageing: An unavoidable future. In: Pierson C., Castles F.G., editors. The Welfare State Reader. 2nd ed. Polity Press; Cambridge, UK: Malden, MA, USA: 2006. pp. 298–308.
    1. Káčerová M., Mladek J. Population ageing as generation substitutions: Economic and social aspects. Ekon. Cas. 2012;60:259–276.
    1. Cristea M., Mitrica A. Global ageing: Do privately managed pension funds represent a long term alternative for the Romanian Pension system? Empirical research. Rom. J. Polit. Sci. 2016;16:63–106.
    1. Song J., Ryu D. Aging effects on consumption risk-sharing channels in European countries. Zb. Rad. Ekon. Fak. U Rijeci Časopis Za Ekon. Teor. Praksu. 2018;36:585–617.

Publication types