Attitudes toward Policy on Ageing. Results of the Population Policy Acceptance Survey in Austria

Abstract

Attitudes to Policy on Ageing. Results of the Population Policy Acceptance Survey in Austria.Like all modern societies Austria is faced with the process of demographic ageing. This paper concentrates on the question of how current policies in the field of old-age provision are being viewed and how Austrians envisage this issue for the future. Departing from an assessment of population ageing, results will be presented for the following topics:• Attitudes towards the state's obligations and responsibilities in the field of social policies; • Attitudes towards the future design of the pension system; • Attitudes towards the transition into retirement and • Preferences concerning the retirement age.The findings ultimately raise the central question of how, in view of the known economic and demographic conditions, employment and social policy can be better integrated in order to allow older employees to remain part of the workforce for a longer time.

Old versus young: How much do countries spend on social benefits? Deterministic modeling for government expenditure

“…Switzerland followed a similar pattern, with a 'tendential increase in the size of the nonworking population [] supported by social programs' (Bonoli and Champion 2014) in the last decade. On this subject, Schimany and Zigova (2004) argued that one of the reasons why the traditionally Austrian pay-as-you contributions pension system struggled to be financially viable in the long term lied in the 'continuing unemployment, partially substituted by atypical employment forms'. Understandably, the longer individuals receive unemployment benefits, the less likely it is for them to find a job and, hence, exit from unemployment (Lalive 2008).…”