Elderly Labour and Unemployment

Abstract

Several reasons underlie the increased labour participation of older people in Japan. One reason is the subsidy for the labour supply of elderly people. This article presents an examination of how this subsidisation of the labour supply of elderly people affects the labour participation of young and elderly people and unemployment. Consequently, an aging society brought about by an increase in the survival rate and the subsidy for elderly labour raise the employment rate and labour participation rate of elderly people in a temporary equilibrium model. This result is consistent with the real world. However, considering the steady state in a closed economy under which capital accumulation is considered, the effect of this subsidy on the employment rate and labour participation of elderly people is slight because of a decrease in the wage rate. JEL: J21