SOCIETY & INTEGRITY
The conflict between generations: Fact or fiction? John Martin, Director, and Edward Whitehouse, OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Informal care–for frail older people or grandchildren–also flows in both directions between the generations.
©Darren Whiteside/Reuters
These two-way exchanges underpinning intergenerational solidarity work well in times of demographic balance. But, as is well known, we are not in such a time. The OECD celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011. In 1961, the year of the OECD’s birth, around 18.5 million children were born in the 34 countries that make up the current membership. That was subsequently to prove about the highest number of the post-war baby boom. Relative to total population, the number of births halved over the five decades since the OECD was founded. Life expectancy at birth has risen by ten years since the OECD was founded, to 76 years for men and 82 for women. This is a remarkable achievement and very good news.
Expect the issue of solidarity between generations to become a major policy challenge in the years ahead, and not just in OECD countries. Here’s why. Different generations depend on one another in complex ways. “Intergenerational solidarity” is a mechanism for supporting mutually beneficial exchanges, both monetary and non-monetary, between generations.
These exchanges are too often seen as one way: younger workers paying taxes to support older people’s benefits and healthcare. In fact, they go in both directions and involve both the state and families: forwards, towards younger generations, are investments in infrastructure, education, innovation and bequests to one’s heirs; and backwards, to older generations, are pensions and care, and public and family care for older people.
However, the result is population ageing, which could prove a particular stress point for relations between generations. There are currently four people of working age for every one of pension age on average in OECD countries. This ratio will fall to three-to-one by the late 2030s and two-to-one by 2050. Future generations may be less willing and able to shoulder a continually growing tax burden to support a growing share of inactive people. Informal care for older people was easier to arrange when it could be shared between a number of children or in-laws. Families are not only smaller, but also more complex nowadays: a result of divorce, remarriage and lone parenthood. These developments weaken the bonds between family members. More women–who traditionally took on most of the care burden–are in paid work and facing a potential conflict between their career and caring. With these pressures, it is useful to know the state of relations between generations today. Although it is difficult to measure intergenerational solidarity, some evidence can be gleaned from attitudinal surveys. One such survey, conducted in 2009,
OECD Observer No 290-291 Q1-Q2 2012
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