Overcome discrimination for older workers to achieve equality and sustainable development

Abstract

Transformation of the world population age structure happens at a fast pace and creates problems of increasing social expenditures. However, Industry 4.0 technologies create large-scale opportunities for extending the labor activity of the older population. In Russia, share of people over working age is 22%, and it will increase by another 15% in next 30 years. At the same time, older people are discriminated in the labor market. The article is devoted to the study of job and salary discrimination of elderly workers in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania as a typical Russian region with tight labor market and a deteriorating demographic situation. Methods of statistical and graphical analysis, factual and sociological research were used. Conclusions have been drawn about the predominance of the model of preserving the employment of older workers in public administration, education, science and health care; the influence of the indexation rate of pensions for non-working pensioners on their informal employment; the preservation of wage disparities for older people employed in the regional economy. The internal gender and age discrimination that has developed in the field of remuneration of older age groups has been revealed: discrimination of women's labor in all age cohorts and types of employment; inter-cohort discrimination of older men's labor within one type of employment; discrimination of wage growth rates of employees of different types of employment. Measures to improve the efficiency of regulating the employment of older workers are proposed.