More training, fewer days off and lower pay are the keys to boosting the percentage of older people in the workforce, social affairs minister Piet Hein Donner told MPs on Monday evening.

The minister had promised parliament an action plan as part of the government’s pledge to increase the state pension age from 65 to 67. At the moment, just 28% of the over-60s have a job and while there have been improvements in recent years, the average retirement age in the Netherlands is still 62.
The next 10 years will be crucial in boosting employment levels among older staff, Donner said. The first leg of the two-stage pension age increase will be in 2020, when the retirement age will be raised to 66.
Investment
Government, employers and employees must all ‘invest more’ in stimulating the employment of older staff, the document said. Training is necessary to make it easier for older workers to change jobs and this will be anchored in law, the minister said.
At the moment, just 26% of people who lose their job from the age of 55 will find work.
The action plan compares the build-up of wages in the Netherlands with the Scandinavian countries, and shows that in the Netherlands wages continue to rise for far longer. This means that in Scandinavia, older workers who lose their jobs can find another one quickly without a cut in salary, the action plan says.
‘The cabinet will therefore ask employers and employers to take substantial steps to develop a more balanced pay structure,’ the action plan says. ‘At the same time, the cabinet is asking unions and employers to be quick about replacing expensive general measures in pay deals for an individual approach.’
Stupid
Many pay deals include extra holiday for older staff, introduced alongside early retirement schemes in the 1980s at a time of high youth unemployment.
On Monday, union leaders condemned Donner’s call for lower pay scales as being ‘stupid‘.
The government has already introduced a number of tax breaks and other financial stimuli to encourage firms to keep on older staff.

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