The last Albion Society of 2009 took place yesterday at Patisserie Valerie, Spitalfields. George Magnus a Senior Economic adviser at UBS and someone who is widely credited with being one of the first economists to foresee this year’s credit crunch hosted the event talking about the ageing population; an The Age of Ageing.
For the first time in history life expectancy is currently rising and at the same time fertility is falling. This is increasing the number of dependents (people too old or too young to work) relative to the size of the workforce which is having major implications for economic growth and public finances.
George covered 3 potential solutions: increase the retirement age, (thus making people work longer), increase immigration (substitute workers from overseas for UK workers); improve Total Factor Productivity so that we can increase economic output even though the labour force will be smaller (get more from fewer people working).
In a room predominately filled with people below 60, it stirred up much debate as they conjured up thoughts of their own futures. David Wethey from Agency Assessments raised the question of how far we will be able to solve the problem if we manage to address the prejudice of ageism?
The morning was wrapped up by one of our very own Senior Planners, Sam Ashken who highlighted the possibilities and opportunities an aging population can have for businesses and entrepreneurs – there are tremendous opportunities to target this ‘growing’ market - answers on a postcard.
