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Background: COVID-19 has a direct impact on the employment of older people. This adds to the challenge of ageism. The World Health Organization has started a worldwide campaign to combat ageism and has called for more research and evidence-based strategies that have the potential to be scaled up. This study specifically aims to identify solutions to combat the adverse effects of COVID-19 on the global ageing workforce. Methods: We present 15 case studies from different countries and report on what those countries are doing or not doing to address the impact of COVID-19 on ageing workers. Results: We provide examples of how COVID-19 influences older people's ability to work and stay healthy, and offer case studies of what governments, organizations or individuals can do to help ensure older people can obtain, maintain and, potentially, expand their current work. Case studies come from Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Israel, Japan, Nigeria, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, Thailand, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). Across the countries, the impact of COVID-19 on older workers is shown as widening inequalities. A particular challenge has arisen because of a large proportion of older people, often with limited education and working in the informal sector within rural areas, e.g. in Nigeria, Thailand and China. Remedies to the particular disadvantage experienced by older workers in the context of COVID are presented. These range from funding support to encouraging business continuity, innovative product and service developments, community action, new business models and localized, national and international actions. The case studies can be seen as frequently fitting within strategies that have been proven to work in reducing ageism within the workplace. They include policy and laws that have increased benefits to workers during lockdowns (most countries); educational activities such as coaching seniorpreneurship (e,g, Australia); intergenerational contact interventions such as younger Thai people who moved back to rural areas and sharing their digital knowledge with older people and where older people reciprocate by teaching the younger people farming knowledge. Conclusion: Global sharing of this knowledge among international, national and local governments and organizations, businesses, policy makers and health and human resources experts will further understanding of the issues that are faced by older workers. This will facilitate the replication or scalability of solutions as called for in the WHO call to combat ageism in 2021. We suggest that policy makers, business owners, researchers and international organisations build on the case studies by investing in evidence-based strategies to create inclusive workplaces. Such action will thus help to challenge ageism, reduce inequity, improve business continuity and add to the quality of life of older workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the trends of the macroeconomic indicators of regular, self-employed, and non-regular workers in postwar Japan from a retrospective approach. Our findings show that the base monthly wage of Japanese workers is about 2.29 thousand dollars in addition to the bonus paid twice per year. The 40–54-year-old age group contributes the most to the labor market because of both maturity and accumulated experiences. Its labor force participation rate represents a mean value and the average value of 82.5% and 81.62, respectively. The American employees earn higher annual revenues than their German and Japanese counterparts. The median values of annual earnings in purchasing power parity constant US dollars represented 46,568.5 USD in Germany, 37,673 USD in Japan, and 59,963 USD in the USA. The employees worked an average of 152.6 h per month in the USA, 151.72 h in Japan, and 122.2 h in Germany. The diligence and strong relationship between managers and workers explain the success of Japanese firms. Also, the tradition of respect, education, and loyalty to both the firm and family help Japanese to succeed in their career. Japanese firms maintain the dualistic practice between men and women in terms of employment and wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the reduced population of several industrialized countries including Germany, Italy, and Japan due to low fertility rate. It states that low fertility rate results to fewer babies, smaller workforce, and higher per capita costs. It mentions that the relationship between human development index (HDI) and fertility was examined, and the relationship between gender development index (GDI) and total fertility rate (TFR) was measured. It also notes that the social and political considerations can help maintain the population in the said nations.