ABSTRACT Workforce ageing is a challenging phenomenon for many countries. Its impact, however, varies widely across economies, sectors, industries and occupations. This paper examines the ways in which employer attitudes and practices help sustain the workforce ageing problem at sector and industry levels. The underpinning study was developed in the context of the Australian Transport and Logistic (T&L) sector and involved Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) household census data analysis and key employer interviews. The analysis concludes that, while the T&L sector experienced higher levels of workforce ageing, relative to the broader Australian economy, employers exhibited surprising complacence and a dismissive attitude towards the potential implications. Although this observation was general, there were certain clear patterns influenced by firm size, type of industry and nature of work. For example, whereas larger firms tend to be more proactive in their workforce planning generally and workforce replenishment more specifically, smaller ones, which comprised the majority tended to externalise the problem or take a ‘wait and see’ approach. As one of very few studies that closely and specifically examines the workforce ageing phenomenon from the perspective of employer behaviour, it makes significant contribution to our understanding of how employer behaviour influences industry workforce ageing.

中文翻译：

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劳动力老龄化挑战和雇主应对：对澳大利亚运输和物流业的研究

摘要劳动力老化对于许多国家来说是一个具有挑战性的现象。但是，其影响在各个经济体，部门，行业和职业中差异很大。本文研究了雇主态度和实践如何在部门和行业层面上帮助解决劳动力老化问题。该基础研究是在澳大利亚运输和物流（T＆L）部门的背景下进行的，涉及澳大利亚统计局（ABS）的家庭普查数据分析和主要雇主访谈。分析得出的结论是，尽管相对于整个澳大利亚经济而言，运输与物流行业的劳动力老龄化水平更高，但雇主却表现出令人惊讶的自满和对潜在影响的不屑一顾的态度。尽管这种观察是普遍的，公司规模，行业类型和工作性质会影响某些明确的模式。例如，较大的公司通常在总体上更积极地制定劳动力计划，而更具体地补充劳动力，而占大多数的较小的公司则倾向于将问题外部化或采取“观望”的态度。作为从雇主行为的角度严密而具体地研究劳动力老化现象的极少数研究之一，它为我们对雇主行为如何影响行业劳动力老化的理解做出了重要贡献。其中大多数人倾向于将问题外化或采取“拭目以待”的方法。作为从雇主行为的角度严密而具体地研究劳动力老化现象的极少数研究之一，它为我们对雇主行为如何影响行业劳动力老化的理解做出了重要贡献。其中大多数人倾向于将问题外化或采取“拭目以待”的方法。作为从雇主行为的角度严密而具体地研究劳动力老化现象的极少数研究之一，它为我们对雇主行为如何影响行业劳动力老化的理解做出了重要贡献。