- Promote home-based employment oppos., implement necessary legal framework for comprehensive welfare coverage, prepare foundation to engage in all types of employment
- update farmers’ pension scheme, prioritise policies on self-employment ops. through regional development progs., extend provincial social security networks, train those who have low edu. levels
The promotion of employment among elderly women can be done through several key implementations including the promotion of home-based employment opportunities and implementing the necessary legal framework to provide comprehensive welfare coverage.
This also includes preparing the foundation to engage in all types of employment, updating the farmers’ pension scheme, giving policy-related priorities through regional development programmes to promote self-employment options, extending provincial social security networks, and training female elderly workers who have low levels of education.
These recommendations were made in an original article on ‘Beyond the working age: Labour supply of elderly men and women in Sri Lanka’ which was authored by P.G.N. Nilmini and G.R.S.R.C. Samaraweera (both attached to the Sabaragamuwa University’s Economics and Statistics Department), and published in the Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Review's Seventh Volume’s First Issue, in August 2022.
Research methodology
Micro-level secondary data from the Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey (2018) was used for this study. A group of over 60-year-olds was chosen as the sample. The sample size was 13,222 elderly people, out of whom 7,325 are elderly women and 5,897 are elderly men.
Results and findings
The majority among the employed are men (47.05%). When compared to elderly women, the diversity of jobs available for men and their ability to find higher earning employment opportunities like masonry, growing paddy or tea, being shop managers, street vendors like lottery sellers (except food), and being away from household work, are the reasons for the increase in their employment. A Canadian study (E. Latif's ‘Labour supply effects of informal caregiving’) has stated that there is a higher probability for men to be employed.
The highest employment proportion among elderly men was recorded in the North Central Province while the Sabaragamuwa and North Western Provinces came second and third, respectively. The highest proportion among elderly women was recorded in the Sabaragamuwa Province while the Uva and Southern Provinces came second and third, respectively.
Most of the elderly people are working as paddy farmers (for trade), tea growers, field crop and vegetable growers, crop farm labourers, tea pluckers, shop managers and subsistence crop farmers. The majority of the employment among elderly men is as paddy growers, tea growers and shop managers, while the majority of elderly females are working as tea pluckers, tea growers, crop farm labourers, in dress sewing and as dressmakers, fur traders and hat makers.
The mean age of the sample is 69 years and the majority of the sample is women. Only 5% of elderly people have children less than six years of age. The majority of the sample is married, while 30% are widowed. The majority of the sample has received secondary education after primary education.
Among demographic factors, age, gender, marital status and the presence of children are considered as important factors that determine the labour force participation of elderly people.
Although age does not impact men, this causes a positive impact on the employment of elderly women at a decreasing rate. There has been an increase in elderly women’s employment with age, the reasons mainly being due to an increase in the life expectancy of women, elderly women’s special interest in their health unlike men, and their ability to engage in employment opportunities like sewing clothes and dressmaking while remaining at home. The main reason for this decreasing rate is physical suffering due to non-communicable diseases and their need for more rest due to general biological deprivation. Similarly, there may also be a decrease in employment based on allowances for elders and the payment of pensions for government employees. A.D. Woodland's ‘Determinants of the labour force status of the aged’ has identified that age is statistically versatile in research on the elderly labour supply.
When the household size increases, the engagement in employment by elderly people decreases due to the caring of the elders by others and this is common for all elders, men and women. Compared to a family with no children, the presence of small children, namely children under six years of age and school-going children between the ages of 6-17 years in the household, causes a negative impact on the overall employment of elders and women. Though there is an overall decline in the employment of elders and a decrease in the employment of elderly women when there are children under six years of age, it does not impact elderly men.
Similarly, it shows a decline in the employment of elderly women when there are children between the ages of 6-17 years. There is unemployment or economic inactiveness among women mainly due to reasons like the elders looking after their grandchildren and the inability to engage in employment as they have to spend more time if there are children of school-going age.
However, when there are children over 18 years of age, it creates a positive impact on the employment of elderly men, whereas it creates a negative impact on elderly women. Thus, when compared to women, the employment of men in households with children above 18 years of age could indicate an increase based on the men’s responsibilities being higher at the household level, and the higher preference of men to engage in employment within sectors closer to their homes, like field crops and tea growing. The employment of women shows a decline due to their dependency on adult children and requests for more resting time. A Vietnamese study (H.T. Nguyen, A.Y. Liu and A.L. Booth's ‘Monetary transfers from children and the labour supply of elderly parents: Evidence’) has pointed out that the presence of children from one-five years and 6-17 years considerably affected the supply of elderly labour.
Gender causes a considerable impact on the decision of the elderly labour supply. When compared to women, there could be an increase in the employment of men due to them bearing higher responsibilities, elderly men having made traditional agriculture as their livelihood continuing to engage in their agricultural activities till they become physically weak, and men mainly engaging in higher earning employment opportunities like carpentry and furniture making, masonry, as shop managers and commercial sales agents. Latif revealed that there is a higher probability for men to be employed while factors such as having children and lower levels of education are the reasons for the decline in women’s employment.
There is a decline in the unmarried elderly being employed when compared to the married, while a considerable number of unmarried women being employed caused a positive impact. Though the employment of elderly unmarried men being negative shows a decline in employment, the probability of unmarried elderly women going for work being positive shows them being employed when compared to men.
The reason for this is the life expectancy of women being higher when compared to men, and their willingness to engage in some kind of employment in order to minimise their isolation and also to increase their income-related security for living in a situation with the absence of their husbands or children to look after them.
Similarly, the decline in the total elderly employment and the decline in men’s employment can be seen based on them being a widow or a widower. Elderly employment decreases based on being a widow or widower. Since being widowed happens along with increasing age, the reason for the decline in men’s employment is the time taken by them to engage in employment after the death of their wives. Similarly, there could be a decline in employment based on factors such as social isolation, spending time at home while caring for children, and depending on social security allowances.
However, the impact is positive on the employment of divorced and elderly women living alone (separated). The reason for this is because the status of being divorced is a process that occurs not with increasing age but before. During such instances, based on reasons like the life expectancy of women being higher when compared to that of men, it can be seen that they have to engage in some kind of employment before they become elderly and continue till they become physically weak.
While an increase in employment can be seen among elderly women who are divorced and living alone (separated), an increase can be seen in the total elderly population. A study conducted in Latin America and the Caribbean (A. Palloni, S. De Vos and M.B. Pelaez's ‘Ageing’) has shown that with the majority of the elders becoming widowed with their increasing age, it causes a negative impact on the elderly labour supply based on their social isolation and psychological pressures.
Ethnicity considerably affects elderly employment. An ethnic comparison with the Sinhalese indicates that being non-Sinhalese causes a negative impact on employment among the elderly. “The presence of more children in Muslim families and Muslim women having to care for them, the dislike of the other members of the family and cultural reasons may be the causes for this decrease in employment,” Nilmini et al. opine.
While there is a decline in employment among all the elders, among women and among men, when compared to elderly men, employment among women has declined considerably. An Indian study (V. Unnikrishnan and K. Sen's ‘Old-age pensions and female labour supply’) has shown that there is a decline in Muslim women entering the labour market. The opportunities for employment are relatively lower for non-Sinhalese than the Sinhalese in the general market and that also might affect the specific context of the elderly labour market.
Educational advancement and the standard of living are important factors in employment related decisions. When compared to elders who have received tertiary education, though the impact is positive on the employment of all the elders and elderly women who are uneducated or have received only primary education, education does not considerably affect the employment of elderly men.
As women with such minimal education are engaged in growing field crops and vegetables, sewing and dressmaking, fur trading, hat making, and as cleaners and helpers in hotels and other institutions, employment among women who are uneducated or who have received primary education shows an increase of 6.79% and 6.49%, respectively. Similarly, though becoming elderly, they can still be seen engaged in employment in order to gain financial benefits as they have committed half of their lifetime to education. A Taiwanese study (J.J. Soong's ‘Empowering the elderly to promote active ageing in the labour market: A new strategic scheme to improve the ageing human resource and to solve the shortage of the labour force’) has identified that active elderly persons can be reintegrated into the labour force through education and training policy programmes.
The increase in the number of family members causes a negative impact on elderly women’s employment. Employment shows a decrease of 1.01% among women and 0.75% among men based on elders spending time leisurely when there are employed members in the family and elderly women spending more time for their family activities. The impact caused by the increase in the number of members in a family is greater on the employment of women in comparison to elderly men. A Japanese study (J.M. Raymo, J. Liang, H. Sugisawa, E. Kobayashi and Y. Sugihara’s ‘Work at older ages: Variation by gender and employment status’) revealed that the socio-economic status and family structure cause a considerable impact on the employment related decision making among elderly people.
As the majority of all the elders in Sri Lanka live in and around rural and estate areas, the elders living in rural areas engage mainly in agricultural and plantation related employment opportunities like growing field crops and vegetables and growing tea for trade. While elderly women living close to estates could be commonly seen engaging in employment as tea pluckers, both women as well as men could be seen engaging in activities like growing tea for trade. While there is a considerable increase among the total elderly group when they live in a non-urban area, 4.8% of the elderly women and 4% of the elderly, 8.5% of non-Western elderly men and 1% of elderly women are engaged in employment. The elders living outside the Western Province mainly engaging in the agricultural and fisheries industries can cause an increase in employment. T.S. Senanayaka and A.S. Kumara’s ‘The employment status of the elderly in Sri Lanka: Patterns and determinants’ indicated that more than the elders living in the Central, North Western and North Central Provinces, the elders living in the Sabaragamuwa and Northern Provinces create a larger impact on employment opportunities, and that elders living in the urban sector engaging in employment shows a minimal level.
Conclusions
With the increase of the women’s lifespan, to further promote employment, Nilmini et al. made several proposals: Promoting home based employment opportunities like making sweetmeats, handicrafts like cane - related products, dress sewing and dressmaking, fur trading and hat making through a vocational training centre; taking steps to implement the necessary legal framework on the elderly labour supply to provide a comprehensive welfare coverage to elderly workers; preparing the foundation with the assistance of the Department of Labour and the Ministry of Labour to engage in all types of employment, irrespective of gender differences; updating the farmers’ pension scheme to be received by all, thus promoting the employment of elderly rural agricultural workers and increasing their psychological endurance, through Agrarian Services Centres, since the majority of the elderly workers are employed in agricultural occupations; giving policy- related priorities through regional development programmes to promote self employment options for elderly people, especially in the North Central, Sabaragamuwa, North Western, Uva and Southern Provinces, and further extending social security networks through the Provincial Ministries on social welfare as employment among elderly people is relatively high in non-urban areas and in Provinces other than the Western Province (elderly employment among men is higher in the North Central, Sabaragamuwa and North Western Provinces, while the highest employment rate among elderly women is recorded in the Sabaragamuwa, Uva and Southern Provinces); and training the majority of female elderly workers who have low levels of education for employment which need low literacy levels.
Since the study was based on secondary data, Nilmini et al. did not have access to certain important aspects such as the wealth of the respondent, and the presence of chronic diseases among elders and their spouses, and this, in turn, is considered as a limitation in the study.