Bigger workforce needed to tackle economic woes

Increasing workforce participation rates among females and older workers is necessary to increase productivity and economic growth, according to Grattan Institute chief executive John Daley.  

Speaking at an Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) luncheon, Daley highlighted lifting older workers' workforce participation rates as one of three policy levers the Government could employ to boost economic growth as the mining boom wound down. 

Restricting access to age pension and superannuation to age 70 as part of a tax reform package was another appropriate policy, along with increasing the workforce participation rate of female workers. 

Daley said governments would face increasing pressure from lobby groups as they struggled to boost economic growth.  

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Declining real incomes and the need to stimulate productivity growth required policy action that, by definition would leave someone worse off, according to Daley.  

"In the last decade specific interest groups could stymie reform by saying 'well, there's a loser here and therefore it's bad'," he said. "It's no longer going to be good enough to say if the Government does x, y, z, some people have less money for their retirement.  

"To be blunt that's kind of too bad."